One Long Summer
by xXx20Lou04xXx
Summary: When stuck at school, all James could think about was Lilly Evans, his friends, and how much fun he wasn't going to have, stuck all by him self at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the summer hollidays. That was until.........
1. Default Chapter

One Long Summer! (L+J)  
  
Chapter 1: Disappointment  
  
"This is sad, just plain sad" James Potter said, as he watched the horseless carriages pull away without him. James was stuck for the whole of the summer holidays in school, because he got into too much trouble this year, "A few Dungbombs, a few Niffeler's, a few comments to the teachers, okay, add turning a few peoples hair a different colour, that's not that bad, okay, so there was a few other things, but still." James said, talking to himself, "Well it's not bad enough to keep you in school over the summer holiday's" James said again, to himself. James spent about five whole minuets talking to him-self, until he was interrupted by a, "Mr Potter, could I see you in my office?" James spun round and nodded to his headmaster, Professor Dumbledore. James followed Dumbledore to his office, still muttering to himself about how sad it was to be stuck, by himself, in Hogwarts. When inside Dumbledore's office, he took a seat, "Now Mr Potter, I am truthfully sorry that you are here by yourself, but I am afraid it is Ministry rules that you remain in the castle, if you have a certain number of detentions..."  
  
"But what about Sirius? He's had the same amount as me, maybe even more" James cut in  
  
"Ahhh, but Mr Potter, you are mistaken, Mr Black, has had one less detention than the requirement of summer school, so he does not need to attend, now, as I was saying." Dumbledore continued, "Since it is Ministry rules, I can not send you home, but, I can make things slightly more entertaining, instead of working like you normally would, there will be activities for you to enjoy..."  
  
"But what's the point if I'm the only one here?" James cut in spitefully  
  
"Ahhh, but you are wrong again Mr Potter, I have sent an owl to every student's parent in this school, asking them to join us, if they want to that is, they of course don't have to, but I know a few of the parents will make them, and I'm sure if your friends aren't busy, they too will join you. I have told the parents that there will be fun activities to endure, as well as school work, and that they will be able to catch up on their work." Dumbledore finished and looked at James, obviously looking for James new opinion on the matter, "You did this for me, so I wouldn't get bored or lonely?" James asked after a few seconds. Dumbledore nodded, "Thank you sir" James said. Dumbledore bowed to James indicating he could leave. James said thank you once again, then rushed of to the owlery to send an owl to his best friends, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Petigrew. James sent his owl (Jacob) off out the window with three bits of parchment, and then went outside to enjoy the first of July's sunshine. James did three laps around the lake, and then settled under his favourite tree. He spent about ten minuets there, just sitting, thinking, about his friends, about his disappointed parents and about Lilly Evans. His mind wandered from thinking about how his parents had reacted to their son telling them he had to stay behind at school this summer, because he had caused to much trouble. Then his mind moved back to the familiar, Lilly Evans, James sat there and just thought about her, her voice, her looks and her personality, James hoped that along with his friends, Lilly would come to this summer school thing. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two: Reunited again  
  
James couldn't wait for three o'clock to come, when the train was due, mostly because he wanted to see his best friends, but then again, he wouldn't say no to seeing Lilly Evans again! By two fifty five, James had taken himself down to Hogsmeade station and was waiting on a bench for the Hogwarts express to arrive again. "How ya' doin' James," he heard someone say, he turned around and saw Hagrid, the gamekeeper, standing looking down at him. Hagrid was a big man, huge in fact, about twice the size of a normal man, with hands the size of dustbin lids and feet the size of sharks. "I'm alright, thanks" James said, "Just waiting for the train to come back, how about you?" James asked the gamekeeper  
  
"I'm alrigh', been keepin' ou' o' trouble?" Hagrid asked James.  
  
"No, not really, that's why the rest of, well, some of the school are coming back, since Dumbledore knew I was going to be a loner, so he sent an owl to kid's parents and told them he was doing a summer school, well I'm not complaining, Sirius, Remus and Peter are coming back to keep me company" James told Hagrid.  
  
"Why'd you have ter stay behind?" Hagrid asked, looking puzzled  
  
"Because I got too many detentions this year, the Ministry have a rule, if you get to many detentions, you have to stay behind over the summer, but Dumbledore says he's going to make it fun, so I'm glad he's here" James replied smiling.  
  
"Ah, 'es a great man is Dumbledore. You mus' be losin' your touch, gettin' caugh' so much this yea'" Hagrid said jokingly "Anyway, I must be off, got pheasants to get rid o'" Hagrid said departing. James waved goodbye, then continued staring at the train tracks, waiting for the train to make its appearance, along with his friends, and not to mention Lilly, he needed to apologise to her anyway. A loud distinguishable train whistle then interrupted his thoughts. James jumped up with a huge smile on his face, he waited for the train to stop, then almost tripped over getting to the last carriage, him and his friends always got the last carriage, ever since first year, that was 'their' carriage. Sure enough, as he reached it, three boys were making their way out of the carriage. The first one was tall, and had dark brown hair and matching dark, brown eyes. James recognized him as his oldest and best friend, Sirius Black. The next boy to appear down the steps, was a small boy, with mousy blonde hair and blue eyes, James recognised him, as his other best friend, Peter Petigrew. The last of his friends to appear was a height between Sirius and Peter, with light brown hair and light brown eyes; he was James last best friend, Remus Lupin. James, who had decided to play it cool, was leaning against the train, with a smirk on his face.  
  
"You guys didn't have to come," James said, but truthfully glad that they did.  
  
"What, and me stay with my mother and father, no way, mate." Sirius said, giving James a quick smirk.  
  
"Yeah, and what do you expect me and Peter to do, with half of the Marauders missing, sit at home and read? Yeah, right" Remus said. Peter nodded,  
  
"It isn't the same without you two." James smiled now, a proper smile,  
  
"Oh, here you are," Sirius said handing James a bunch of chocolate frogs,  
  
"Thanks, mate," James said, eating a chocolate frog. On the way back up to the castle, James saw his first sight of Lilly, in two days.  
  
"Now who you gawping at?" Sirius asked James,  
  
"No one" He replied defensively  
  
"Aye right" Sirius said stopping dead in his footsteps, the others followed suit,  
  
"I'm not gawping at anyone, I'm thinking about what Dumbledore has in mind for fun!" James said, well, it was half true; he had been wondering what Dumbledore had in mind.  
"Yeah, right, now tell us" Sirius demanded.  
  
"I'm telling you, its no one, I'm thinking about what Dumbledore has in mind, now are you lot going to stand there, looking more like idiots than usual, or am I going to have to raid the kitchen by my self? James asked his best friends, "Oh, the kitchen, I'm there" Peter said. As James and Peter marched of, James heard Remus ask Sirius if he was coming, then he heard Remus and Sirius discussing whom James might fancy. "I don't know why you bother," James said to them, as they entered the great hall.  
  
"Were your best mates, we just wanna know" Remus said, Peter nodded, and Sirius fixed a gaze on to him. "You already know!" James stated. Sirius and Remus both looked puzzled, but Peter seemed to know what he was going on about, "Evans?" He asked, "I thought that was a joke?" Peter asked again. They had just arrived at the entrance to the kitchens; James tickled the pear and then said,  
  
"Yeah. Well, it isn't a joke, so? So who cares?" James demanded, entering the kitchen.  
  
"Yeah, well, were sorry, mate" Remus said clapping his friend on the back,  
  
"We should have known. You always go for the ones out of reach!" Sirius said jokingly.  
  
"You can talk" James muttered to Remus and Peter, who chuckled. James asked the kitchen house elves for a few drinks and a bit of food. No sooner had James asked them, had about four house elves come running up to him, carrying a tray with four butter beers. Another set of house elves ushered the Marauders into comfy chairs, and about six house elves appeared moments after, with a tray full of biscuits and cakes, which the boys happily ate away at. The boys thanked the house elves then started chatting, James told them why he was kept behind, and asked what their plans would have been anyway. James liked being down in the kitchens, partly because of the food constantly on the go, but mainly because there were only about five students other than him and the Marauders that knew where the kitchens were. The boys stayed in the kitchens till about five o'clock, then they bid farewell to the house elves, and left to soak up the summer sunshine. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Dinner with Dumbledore When the boys reached the Hogwarts ground, James realised, that quiet a few of the original students were here. The boys made their way down to the lake and sat where James had sat earlier on. They were all joking and prating about, trying to see who could push who into the lake, without using magic, Remus finally cheated and used a levitation spell on Peter and almost cast him into the water, but before he could, James fixed a levitation spell onto Remus to stop him casting Peter into the water. Sirius then took the liberty of doing the same to James, but actually dumping him into the water this time, the last thing James saw was a big splash, as Remus and Peter landed in the water as well. James was then chucked up into the air by what he thought to be the giant squid. James landed with a thud on the ground in front of Sirius, who had so handily, put his wand away, James gave him a sly grin and Sirius said, laughing, "No, James come on, look, these are new robes, no, mate, n-" Before being levitated into the water by James. By this time Remus and Peter were above the water as well, all roaring with laughter. When Sirius emerged from the water, soaking wet, and covered in bits of seaweed, the gang burst into laughter, again, as well as Sirius. James then heard a voice nearby, say, "Childish!" James was about to attack back verbally and say, 'Just because we know how to have fun, and you don't!' But when he turned round, he saw it was Lilly, she was walking past with her friends, who he knew to be Laura and Lou, and Lilly's nose happened to be stuck up in the air. James felt a heavy weight on his shoulder, he turned again and saw that Sirius was resting his arm on his shoulder, "Well, at least her friends don't think were childish" Sirius commented,  
  
"Nah, they don't, do they" Remus said, looking at the girls one last time. They were both right, James saw that her friends, were both giggling like crazy, and Lilly seemed to be telling them how immature James was being. "Shall we go in for dinner?" Peter asked. "I'm hungry, for some reason." The other boys laughed, and made there way up to the castle. James was yet again surprised to see so many people here at dinner. James counted the number of empty seats at each table, there was thirty eight missing from the Hufflepuff table, forty two missing from the Ravenclaw table, 'they probably think there too superior and clever to come to 'summer school'" James thought. James counted up the number of people missing on the Slythrin table, and found out there were forty three, "The less there are of Slytherin's, the better" James thought savagely. There were thirty- seven missing Gryffindor's, "not bad!" James thought. "Snivellus is here, what a shame!" Peter said into James ear. James surveyed the tables, and sure enough, there was old Snivilly. James sighed, "Yeah, what a shame" James said back to Peter. Professor Dumbledore then stood up and was looking over his students.  
"I have never, ever, been so happy, I am absolutely delighted at the number of students who turned up, now I hope you all know, this will not be like school, it will be more like. Well, yes, it will be like school, but you wont have as many classes during the day, you will have longer lunch breaks, and I have hired, for your enjoyment, a few new professors, but these professors are different. All these professors are the head of the four professors you will be getting. May I introduce you to Professor Flitz, she will be teaching you how to play a muggle instrument, but there will be magical modifications made to it, she will also be letting you all perform a music show at the end of term." A small, and timid witch stood up, and smiled, she gave a little wave, and then sat down again. "May I also introduce to you, Professor Drummond, who will be taking you for Drama coaching and classes, he to, will be holding a Drama production at the end of the term." Dumbledore trailed off as a young wizard stood up and bowed to the Great Hall. "I also would like to introduce to you our last professor, Professor Midgeal, who will be supervising you whilst you are doing sports, such as, basketball and swimming, not to mention other magical sports, such as Quidditch." Dumbledore yet again trailed off, and aloud the pupils to applaud the last professor, she was a witch, and smiled, she gave a little wave, and then sat down again. "I also introduce to you, Professor Drummond. He will be taking you for Drama coaching and classes, he too, will be holding a Drama production at the end of the term." Dumbledore trailed off as a young wizard stood up and bowed to the Great Hall. "I also would like to introduce to you our last professor, Professor Midgeal. She will be supervising you whilst you are doing sports, such as, basketball and swimming. Not to mention other magical sports, such as Quidditch." Dumbledore yet again trailed off, and aloud the pupils to applaud the last professor, she was a witch, but unlike Professor Flitz, beamed out at the students. "Now, I have nothing more to say. Apart from, have fun this summer, and tuck in" Dumbledore said and a copious amount of food appeared on the table. James, who was used to this food by now, was still amazed at how well the house elves could prepare a proper feast. The Marauders all finished their food and desert, they were just about to leave, when Dumbledore stood up again, "I am sorry," He said "But, there was one little detail that I forgot to tell you, you will be assigned to whom you share a dormitory with, I have tried to keep friendships together, but I am sorry if I haven't managed to keep yours together." Dumbledore said. James looked at his friends, they too were looking slightly worried, "If they've put me with that awful Sebbins, I'll scream, he's a flipping nutcase" James exclaimed. A little further up the stairs, James herd the familiar voice of Lilly, "I really hope were still together, I'll go crazy if I'm not with you guys" Lilly was telling her friends. James caught up with the boys and went to look at the message board. Sirius who was the tallest of the four, stood on tiptoe, "The rooms are in fours," He told them "Yes!" He exclaimed, "Were all together," He told them. James heard a shriek,  
  
"Yes! Yes, were together," James heard Lilly exclaim to her friends.  
  
"Looks like not even Dumbledore can split us up," Remus said, as the boys went up to their dormitory.  
  
"Looks like it, doesn't it" Peter said. The boys got into there pyjamas. James lay in bed for a few minuets, before he said,  
  
"Look, guys, I'm really glad you came here, really. I am," James heard a laugh come from each of the beds,  
  
"Its no problem. Like I said, I'd rather be on Pluto, than be at 'home,'" Sirius said.  
  
"Yeah, were the Marauders, when one of us has to suffer, we all suffer. We stick together," Peter said  
  
"Yeah, through thick and thin!" Remus added in. James smiled to himself, and on the last happy thought of having such good friends; he fell asleep, not even bothering to remove his glasses.  
  
James was woken the next morning by the sounds of his friends, "Oi, James, wake up you lazy pig!" Remus said pulling back the curtains on James four- poster bed.  
  
"Ahhh, get lost" James said rolling over into the warmth of his bed.  
  
"Do you know something? James is the most laziest, and most awful person to wake up," Sirius said to Remus and Peter. James heard them murmur in agreement.  
  
"We should do plan, X" Peter said, James herd him approach his bed. "Yeah, plan, X, should work" Remus said in agreement.  
  
"On the count of three." Sirius said  
  
"One. Two. Three!" They all said, pulling off the covers on James's bed. If this wasn't enough to wake James up, what Sirius did next was, "Locomorter bucket" he said. Before James could even move, or jump out of bed, Sirius had soaked him in water.  
  
"Okay, I'm up!" James screamed as he jumped out of bed. "Jesus, what is wrong with having a lie in?" James asked, as he started to get dressed.  
  
"Well. We thought we might tell you, Lilly, is in the common room, and she looks slightly upset," Sirius told him  
  
"Yeah. Lou and Laura have gone down to get her some breakfast, so, If you want to talk to her, I'd do it now if I were you, before they come back!" Remus told him. James finished getting dressed and went down stairs to see what was up with Lilly. Sure enough she was sitting on the sofa crying. The common room was empty apart from her; James approached her, "Evans? Lilly?" James asked uncertainly. Lilly looked up, her eyes were all red and puffy, but in James opinion, she still looked great.  
  
"What do you want, Potter? Come to tease me, or are you just gonna have ago at me because I exist?" Lilly asked spitefully. James knew that she was talking about, the end of last year, just after they had sat one of their OWL's; James had played a nasty prank on Snape. "No, Evans, I came to see if you were alright, are you?" James asked trying to be nice. Lilly raised her head, as if to say, 'what the hell do you think.'  
  
"No Potter, I'm not. Something has happened and I don't want to talk to you about it, okay?" Lilly said spitefully. James didn't really want to leave her,  
  
"Err, well, Evans, I just really, I err, I really wanted to apologise for the way I treated Snivellus, I mean, err Snape." James said keeping his eyes on Lilly. To James's surprise, Lilly snorted with laughter,  
  
"Why should you be sorry, okay, so I don't agree on what you did to him, and why you did it to him, but I think for what he called me, he deserved it!" Lilly said. James thought for a moment, to what Snivellus had called Lilly, then it struck him, he had called her the rudest thing he could; he had called her a mudblood. "Yeah, well, that was out of line" James admitted, he personally didn't think it was just out of line, it was way, way over the line, but he wanted to be nice to Lilly, then go kick Snivellus's head in! Trying to keep things friendly, he decided to keep talking "So, how did you do in your OWL's, do you think?" James asked. He knew that she was supposedly, into schoolwork, so he didn't think this question could fail, and he was right. Before long, Lilly was talking to him like there was no tomorrow. James was just about to get on to the conversational topic of why she came to summer school, but before he could ask, the portrait opened and Lilly's friends walked in, Lou and Laura. "I'll see you around, Evans" James said and he got up and went back up to the boy's dormitories. "Well? What happened? We thought she might off killed you, you were down there so long" Remus joked. James laughed and told them what happened. 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four: Close Encounter  
  
"James?" Peter asked later on in the day, as they were lazing about around the lake as per usual.  
  
"Hmm" James said to show he was listening,  
  
"Do you fancy an adventure?" Peter asked. James, who had been lying on his back suddenly sat up. Remus, who had been reading, suddenly looked up from his book, and Sirius, who had been staring into space, also, jerked back into life. The same mischievous grin spread across all four of their faces, "I'd love to," Remus said  
  
"Yeah, me too" Sirius said  
  
"Yeah, and there's no way we could get expelled, is there?" James said in agreement. The others nodded.  
  
"So where should we go?" Peter asked,  
  
"Well Wormtail, my old friend, I think we should do something very chancing" James said  
  
"You've got my attention, Prongs" Sirius said  
  
"Well, Padfoot, my dear friend, and of course, you too Moony, how about, we go up to the highest astronomy tower, for a little. I donno, midnight stroll?" James suggested.  
  
"Midnight?" Remus asked  
  
"Astronomy tower?" Peter asked  
  
"Brilliant. Prongs, if I do say so my self; you are a genius" Sirius said. James did a little fake bow,  
  
"Thank you, Thank you very much" James said laughing. The boys spent the rest of the day by the lake. They were mainly deciding what to do that night, and how to get past Filtch the caretaker not to mention his cat Smokey. By the time they had finished there plan properly, and got it all ready, it was time for dinner, so they made there way back up to the castle, for a Saturday dinner. The dinner wasn't as big and grand as the last night, but it was still great. When dinner was over, they all went upstairs and had a load of games of Exploding Snap. By ten to midnight, Peter had lost his eyebrows, Remus had a huge black patch on his cheek, Sirius had singed his hair and so had James. "I think we should go with out the invisibility cloak," Sirius suddenly blurted out.  
  
"Are you mad?" Remus questioned, "We'll get caught for sure!" He stated  
  
"We couldn't. Were Animagus, we could transform" Peter pointed out  
  
"Yeah, we could transform" Sirius said  
  
"Hmm, interesting thought, and what is Flitch going to think when he sees a dirty great stag roaming about in Hogwarts. And how bout Moony, he cant transform, and it isn't even the full moon yet, it isn't for three weeks!" James said  
  
"Awwwww, come on James, you love this kind of thing, it's a risk" Sirius said in a pleading voice  
  
"Oh, okay. Go on then, you in Moony?" James asked  
  
"Well, I suppose, if we do hear signs of people coming, we could leg it, that worked in first year, remember, yeah, go for it, I'm in!" Remus announced.  
  
James, Sirius, Peter and Remus stated to make there way towards the highest astronomy tower, through the portrait of the fat lady, up the sixth floor, up the seventh, "Shhh, what was that?" Sirius asked in a whisper, they all turned round, searching for the source of the noise.  
  
"Is anyone here? Did you hear someone my darling?" They heard a voice say.  
  
"Its Filtch," Peter said.  
  
"Yes, I think we can tell that!" James said spitefully to Peter.  
  
"Who's there?" Filtch demanded. James laughed; he took out his wand and made one of the books on the other side of the room (next to the other exit) drop. Remus then did a very clever spell that made him be able to throw his voice, "Oh shoot" he made his voice say, but on the other side of the room, just as the book fell. Peter suppressed a laugh as he saw Filtch go zooming after the source of the noise. The Marauders burst in to laughter when Filtch's footsteps had died away. "Onward and upward" Sirius said. The boys made there way upwards, the eighth floor, the ninth, then about half an hour later, after tons of walking slowly and quietly, they reached the highest astronomy tower. "We made it" Peter said  
  
"Well that was boring" James said sitting down on one of the benches.  
  
"I concur" Remus said  
  
"We didn't even, nearly, get caught" Sirius said sitting down next to James.  
  
"We made it" Peter shouted into the night of the balcony.  
  
"What the hell are you doing?" Sirius asked Peter,  
  
"Run" Remus said quietly. They didn't need to ask why he said that, because they could all hear footsteps getting nearer and nearer. James, Sirius and Remus all gave Peter a murderous stare before they all turned on there heals and fled. The boys reached the trophy room before they stopped running. The trophy room was one floor above the Gryffindor common room, "Phew, we made it" Peter said panting, the boys all rounded on Peter,  
  
"In case you have forgotten your way around Hogwarts, you would see that we are one floor, above, the Gryffindor common room. And in case you're deaf, there are footsteps coming our way!" James pointed out to Peter.  
  
"Shush. Just let's just hide here, okay?" Remus suggested. They all nodded.  
  
"I can hear you, oh yes I can, I know your in here, stop hiding and come and face old Filtchy." They heard Filtch say.  
  
"Ahhchoo." Remus sneezed, but it came out behind where Filtch was, making him run out of the room in peruse of the noise. "Lets get out of here" Sirius said. They all followed him back to Gryffindor common and dropped into the comfy chairs by the fireplace, which only had glowing embers in it. "You know what we need?" James asked the gang  
  
"A new best friend?" Sirius asked looking threateningly at Peter, who recoiled in his chair and blushed  
  
"No" James said firmly "We need a map, a map that only we know how to use. A map, that will show us everything" James said.  
  
"Yeah, we do, don't we?" Sirius said  
  
"How do we get one of those?" Peter asked  
  
"Haven't a clue, just thought I'd tell you that we needed one" James said smiling slightly.  
  
"Hold on, I've read about them kind of things, you can bewitch pieces of parchment, it says so in Zonco's official book!" Remus said looking gleeful.  
  
"Great, do you have the book?" Sirius asked him, now sitting up straight.  
  
"Yeah, its in my trunk, I'll get it tomorrow, I'm to tiered tonight" Remus said yawning. The boy then made there way up to bed and for the second night in a row, James didn't bother taking of his glasses when he went to sleep. 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five: The Makings of a Map:  
  
James was woken the next morning, by the same form as yesterday, but today, he didn't have the pleasure of trying to cheer up Lilly Evans. James got dressed and went down to breakfast with the rest of the Marauders, he was still in deep thought about Remus's idea about the map. James was quiet throughout breakfast, the other's noticed, but they knew he would just work his way through his little phase. "So, Money, got any thought on this map?" James asked while outside by the lake again.  
  
"Actually, yeah, I have" Remus said  
  
"Yeah? What is it?" Sirius asked  
  
"Well, we know all the secret passages in Hogwarts, well, most of them, right? Well if we put our knowledge on to a piece of parchment, then that will show through, there's a quite complicated potion that we can do, but it wont take more than a few days, well need Penisive, and make sure its fresh, so if we put all our thoughts in it-"  
  
"We can then drop the parchment into the potion and that will make the parchment have the knowledge of the secret passageways" Sirius finished for him  
  
"Yeah" Remus said  
  
"So then if and when we find new passageways, we can add them on, using the same potion?" James asked  
  
"Yeah" Remus said again  
  
"Remus, could we, if we got say bits of hair, or something, could we maybe make people show up on it?" Peter asked.  
  
"We couldn't do it by usage of hair, there's to many professors and pupils, but, what we could do-"  
  
"Is the potion again, put in our info of the professors and then seal it with a spell, so it wont change" Peter said  
  
"Well, what if we get a new professor, I think we should just leave the spell open, you know, so new professors can come and go" Remus said  
  
"A personality charm" Sirius said  
  
"Huh?" Remus asked  
  
"We can give it a personality charm, so it has a personality of its own, we can use our names, and our personalities, and anyone who tries to open it. Say with out knowing a password, will get an earful. Then the map will know the professors anyway, because even if we leave it here when we leave school, it will know all the new professors that come in" Sirius rounded off.  
  
"What a wonderful idea!" Peter exclaimed, Sirius shrugged. "So how long will the potion take?" Peter asked  
  
"Hold on. Yeah, Sirius, that's a good idea, but, I think we should do it differently, how about; we do the same spell the sorting hat has on it? Then it will have a mind of its own, but still have out personalities and names?  
  
"Hold on. Yeah, Sirius, that's a good idea, but, I think we should do it differently, how about; we do the same spell the sorting hat has on it? Then it will have a mind of its own, but still have out personalities and names?" James asked, Remus nodded,  
  
"Good idea. Oh and the potion will take four days, but it will need adding all through the night, like at four in the morning and stuff" Remus said answering Peter.  
  
"Okay. So, when are we going to start it?" Peter asked again  
  
"When we have a potion book!" Sirius answered.  
  
"I've got one upstairs, I'll go get it now" Remus said.  
  
The boys spent the rest of the day out by the lake, deciding how to get the potion ingredients, and deciding who would do which shift, Sirius kept charge of the paper work, Remus of the potion stuff, and James was going to take care of nicking all the ingredients. "No problem, Dibenes is easy to get passed, the dumb old bat, doesn't even lock her door. Wormtail, you're coming with me." James told him  
  
"Why? Can't I stay here?" Peter asked  
  
"No, cause I need a rat, to keep a look out, in case someone comes by." James told him. So James and Peter marched off to Gryffindor tower to fetch James's invisibility cloak. Five minuets later, James and Peter were heading down towards the dungeons, James was holding Peter in his rat form and James was secure under the cloak, so not to been seen. James edged the Potions room door open, there was no sign of anyone, not Dibenes or anyone, James half expected to see Snivellus here, sucking up to the Professor. James moved closer to the student cupboard and took out his needed supplies, then James edged his way slowly towards the door, that lead to were the restricted potions were kept. James was moving slowly, in case someone came out of there, and heard him moving. Thankfully for James, no one was in that room; there were tons of horrid slimy things in that room, they were floating all over the room. James knocked a of something with his head. James scowled at the bump forming on the back of his head. "Right, where are they?" James muttered, half to himself, half to Peter. Peter then transformed and he too started searching for the ingredients they needed. "Got one" Peter said  
  
"Great, here's another one, three left to get" James said. When they had got all the ingredients they needed they got back under the cloak just in time to see Snape walk in to the classroom, "Professor?" He called out. James grinned widely, and pulled out his wand, "Expelliarmus" James said under his breath. Peter squeaked in amusement through his rat form, as he watched Snape go flying into the wall, James suppressed a laugh and watched as a bit of blood tricked down his face, "Scourgify" James said quietly, and Snape's face was suddenly washed and clear of blood, "Lets get out of here" James said to the rat. James and Peter went back up to Gryffindor common room and found Sirius waiting for them, "What took you so long, did you get caught?" He asked grinning,  
  
"Nah, Prongs decided to have some fun with Snivellus, who was looking for his beloved professor, James took care of him though, he's probably still lying on the dungeon floor, wonder what the heck just hit him" Peter said laughing. James laughed and Sirius laughed too, "Your great, James" Sirius said. James raised his eyebrows and gave a little fake bow. "Common, let's go find Money" Sirius said  
  
"Where is he?" Peter asked  
  
"He's out at the edge of the forest." Sirius said  
  
"The for- forest?" Peter stuttered  
  
"Yeah, the forest" Sirius replied. Before Peter could protest, Sirius was out the portrait hole and off towards the forest. When they got there, Remus Lupin was indeed standing there, he had a caldron over a small fire, and a book propped up against the caldron. "What took you so long?" Remus asked frowning.  
  
"They had a run in with old Snivellus, he's now slumped up against the wall, and maybe still bleeding" Sirius said as he, James and Peter laughed, Remus frowned slightly, and then joined in the laughter. Remus, although he didn't notice, accidentally toppled the book on to the fire, "Shoot, I can't touch that!" They all said after they noticed where the book was. "I'll get it" James said bravely  
  
"And how the hell, do you plan on getting that?" Sirius asked, but his questioned was answered for him, James had just transformed into a Stag. James was pounding the book, trying to get it out again. James the Stag seceded, but when he got out he transformed to quickly, and his human foot, was on fire. "Ahhh, put it out, put it out!" James demanded, but his friends just sat there laughing, as James ran around the caldron like an escaped lunatic, trying to put out his foot. There was a little puddle near them, and James ran straight into it. The boys were roaring with laughter, "You have no idea how lucky you are that it was only us who saw that!" Peter said  
  
"So how about I do that to you, eh, Wormtail, how would you like that?" James said advancing on Peter  
  
"Oh come on, I was joking, mate" James said seeing Peters face, who was cowering and backing away, "Common, lets get this potion set up, without any more accidents, especially, not-," James trailed, him and the other Marauders had just burst in to fits of laughter, at the most recent laughing event. By seven o'clock that night, Remus was still adding the potion ingredients, "Come on Money, we'll miss dinner at this rate" Peter said. James and Sirius laughed.  
  
"Hey, Prongs, you still got your invisibility cloak?" Remus asked James  
  
"Yeah, why?" James asked  
  
"So we can hide this potion, we cant just leave it out here, what if it rains, then it will be ruined, and..." Remus said, but was cut off by Sirius,  
  
"Okay, okay, cool it Money, cool it, mate" Sirius said. The boys took the potion up to their dormitory and then went down for dinner. 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six: The First Day of Term:  
  
James had to get up at three o'clock in the morning to add clover grass and powdered scarab to the potion that was hiding under his bed. James did so, let the potion simmer slightly making sure nothing was going to go wrong with it, then stuck it back under his bed, and went back to sleep. James woke a few hours later at the awful time of seven o'clock, when his friends decided he should get up, and started making really loud noises. "Alrigh, alrigh" James said groggily. Since the boys had to be up at this time, they were, for the first time since they got back to school, having breakfast with the rest of the school.  
  
James's eyes lingered on Lilly, who was laughing at a joke or something Lou or Laura had just said, then back to his breakfast. "So what is happening today? What are we doing?" Sirius asked. They all shock their heads.  
  
"Hey, Sebbins, have the timetables been handed out?" Remus asked a boy with blonde hair, sitting across the table.  
  
"Nah, Dumbledore's making another speech about it, after breakfast," the boy said rolling his eyes at the mention of Dumbledore's speech. James felt a rush of anger towards Sebbins, after all, the only reason James was having the slightest bit of fun with his friends, is because of Dumbledore, in James's opinion, he is the best head teacher Hogwarts has ever, and will ever see. James and the rest of the Marauders finished there breakfast and watched the head table to see if Dumbledore had finished his breakfast yet, he hadn't. Since James had nothing to do but wait, his eyes slid down to Lilly, again. She was still eating her breakfast, one of her friends, he thought: "It was Lou, or was it Laura, no, Lou," well, she had finished her breakfast, and was staring around the table, looking for someone. Lilly and Laura hadn't noticed and were still talking to each other, but Lou was in a frantic, but subtle, search for someone. Lilly suddenly said something to Lou and she went bright red and hid her face, Laura was laughing as well, but Lilly said something to her, and her face also turned red. James turned attention back to Dumbledore who had just stood up. "Good morning to you all, I hope you are all ready to endure a good days hard work, and fun" Dumbledore said smiling broadly. "Now, there is no timetable for the next eleven and a half weeks. None of the houses will be together. The houses will sometimes be competing against each other, in sports, and sometimes quizzes in your normal classes. You are to obey all the teachers and not to cause them any havoc, and I will have you all know, that although we are going to be having fun this term, detentions will still be in use, so beware." Dumbledore said looking at Sirius and James, who grinned at each other. "Now, the classes are as follows: Ravenclaw's, you will be taking normal classes today," There were tons of moans from the table on the right. Dumbledore continued, "Hufflepuff's, you will be attending Music class with Professor Flitz, Slytherin's, you will be attending Drama classes with Professor Drummond, and Gryffindor's, that leaves you to be playing sports with Professor Midgeal" Dumbledore said.  
  
"Not bad!" Sirius said to the rest of the Marauders,  
  
"Yeah, I feel sorry for the Ravenclaw's though" Remus said.  
  
"Now, you will all break for lunch at twelve o'clock, and your lunch will be until two o'clock, giving you two hours. Ravenclaw's, please come to me for instructions on what your supposed to do today. The rest of you, please go to the Professor that you have been assigned with for today. I warn you, every day, you will be changing subjects, and you will have an exam in the usual subjects at the end of the term. Sorry to disappoint you" Dumbledore said with a wink, and then sat down.  
  
"An exam!" Peter exclaimed, "Great, way to ruin a holiday" Peter said sulkily, the others laughed.  
  
"Come on, let's go and see if this, Midgeal, is any good" James said. The others followed him to the pack of Gryffindor's, who were in a tight knot round Professor Midgeal.  
  
"Now, gather round, gather round, we have a lot to do today" Professor Midgeal said brightly. "Now, we want to beat the Slytherin's, don't we, don't tell them I said that, but I was in Gryffindor a few years back, and unless I'm much mistaken, there is still a lot of tension around you two" She continued  
  
"Well, we like to call it hatred" James said out loud, a few people laughed, but James noticed that one of the few who didn't was Lilly.  
  
"Ahhh, I think I know who you are, you would be either, James, Sirius, Remus or Peter, am I correct?" She asked  
  
"Yeah, your right" Sirius said, "Me being Sirius, him being James, him being Remus" He pointed at Remus, "And him being Peter, "Sirius pointed at Peter. Professor Midgeal smiled, "Yes, I was warned about you lot, never mind, glad to know you have spirit." She said. James wasn't too sure if this was a compliment, but Sirius took it as one and smirked. "Now, lets go outside to the lake, and I'll tell you what your task is." Every one followed her outside to the lake, where there was three people standing out there, Professor Midgeal stopped and turned to the class, beaming, "This is the Slythrin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw teachers. Professor Dumbledore decided it would be best if he hired people from there old houses, to teach the current houses, so not to be biased, not that any of us would be." She said smirking, "Now, today we are going to concentrate on Quidditch, I have been informed that the whole of the Gryffindor Quidditch team are here," she asked, and people nodded, "Good, now follow me over there now, leaving this lot behind" She said jokingly to the other three professors. They all went round to the Quidditch pitch and Professor Midgeal asked them to all sit on the stands, and they did so.  
"So, where are the Quidditch players?" She asked the silent class, James, Sirius, Peter, Remus, Lou, Lilly and Laura all raised their hands. "Ahhh, so we have the famous troublemakers on the team do we? Very well, lower your hands. I want you all to pair up, even if you're not on the team, were going to see what you're made off! Oh, and yes that means no threes" Professor Midgeal said as she saw Lilly, Lou and Laura stay close together, as if they were trying to say, 'your not splitting up and you cant make us.' James watched as Laura, Lilly and Lou all decided who else to pair with, "Hey, Laura? Wanna go with me? That is if your not going with them" James herd Sebbins say to Laura. James and the rest of the Marauders were very interested in what was happening, apart from them, they were the most famous group at Hogwarts, they never split up, and here it was, some boy, who James hated, was breaking them up. They all watched in amazement as Laura went and joined him at a different part of the stands. James was paired with Sirius, and Peter and Remus were together.  
"Now that everyone is in twos, we shall begin. I want one of you to hold a bat, and the other to aim a Quaffle at it, and then we will be swapping to the field where you will get marked. You will be of course, be using real Bludger's by this time, and you will be marked on your speed, power and of course, overall effect. I want to make all of you into Quidditch players, and I need to find your strengths. So, every one, wands out ready to get those Quaffle's back after your partner throws them across the field, and get into a space, begin. Now." Professor Midgeal said briskly. James and Sirius were both very talented at all areas of the Quidditch pitch, and found no difficulty in the skill they were trying to master. James spent his time telling Sirius how pointless this was, and Sirius spent the time, trying to knock James's head off with the Quaffle. A half hour later, Professor Midgeal told them to swap over; so then James spent that half hour Professor Midgeal told them to swap over; so then James spent that half hour trying to knock Sirius's head off. The morning bell went off another half hour later, at ten o'clock, indicating for their extended break, of one hour. When they got back to class, well, Quidditch practice, Professor Midgeal assigned them back in to pairs, but this time, they were to practice defending the goals. She charmed enough sets of hoops out of thin air for them to practice on, these hoops were smaller than the normal ones, and she also shrunk the Quaffle's to make it easier. James yet again complained about how easy this was, but not as much as Sirius, as he was the Keeper for Gryffindor team. They swapped over at their normal interval of half an hour, and half an hour after that, they were heading back up to the castle, for lunch. "So, what do you think of her, guys?" Sirius asked the rest of the Marauders, "She's alright, I guess, doesn't really make an impression, not a good one, nor a bad one," Remus said  
  
"Yeah, she's alright" Peter said digging into his casserole.  
  
"Yeah, alright" James said, now he was also digging into his lunch. When they had all finished they retired to their favourite tree, and relaxed. The main topic of conversation was the map that was in the making, apparently it only needed ingredients added at night time, so no one had to duck out of classes, to add to it, "Not that I would of minded" Sirius had said. When the bell to return to classes came, they made their way, once again, to the Quidditch pitch, where Professor Midgeal was conjuring up some brooms, "Ahhh, I see we are all back. Back into pairs then if you don't mind." She said briskly. She explained that they would now be doing Chaser practice, and by this, you would be streaking up and down your little bit of the pitch, passing the Quaffle to one and other. Sirius and James, who had paired together again, couldn't help but show off, James and Sirius made sure to do tight turns, loop the loops, swerves and other show off tactics. They did however get the result they wanted, most of the pairs close to them, including Remus and Peter had stopped to admire them, and applauded. When the hour of Chaser practice was up it was time for Seeker practice, James's talent, but to his disappointment, all they were doing was throwing muggle golf balls at each other, at weird angels. James managed to catch them all, and complained a lot, because Sirius was making it too easy. An hour later when every one had had a shot of being seeker, there was to be an hours worth of a Quidditch game. They all divided up into sevens, and James somehow managed, to the other Marauders amazement; convince Lilly, Lou and Laura to play in a team with them. The team got marked on all of their performances, and got tens on all of them, even Lilly, Lou and Laura, who had never played Beater in their lives, managed to get a ten. Then when the whole game against another team was put into action, James's team won three hundred to ten. Professor Midgeal was absolutely delighted. At five o'clock James and the other Murderers made their way back up to the castle for dinner. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were all talking keenly for the rest of the night about their wonderful lessons today. 


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Drama with Lilly James had only been asleep three hours, before he had to get up and add ingredients to the potion, "Three drops of that, two drops of this" James said too himself. When James had finished he found it hard to get back to sleep, because of Wormtail's snoring, so he decided to go down stairs, to get some peace and quiet. Halfway down the stairs James heard the familiar sob of Lilly Evans. Deciding to be more sensitive than he usually is, James approached her cautiously, but before he could get a word in she snapped, "Don't tell me, I woke poor James Potter up, oh dear, now he wont look so gorgeous in the morning!" James stared; quite shocked at Lilly's words, then his normal character came back into action, "So you think I'm gorgeous do you?" He said smirking. Lilly looked up at him with her green eyes, her stare made James cower as she gave him a deadly look, "No, Potter, I was merely stating that, oh it doesn't matter" Lilly snapped. James smirked to himself, but his smile faded when Lilly put her face in her hands and started to cry again, "Okay, I know you don't like me, and I think you've guessed that I like you, so that's why I hate, seeing you like this," James said in his normal tone that he used around Lilly, "I just want to try and help" James added in a moody, sulky voice,  
  
"You know how you can help, Potter? You can march back up those stairs and pretend as though you never ever, set eyes on me!" Lilly said aggressively. James stayed put, "I cant, what if I see you tomorrow? Then what do I do" James asked chancing his luck, obviously Lilly wasn't the type of person who became nice, sweet and lovely when she was upset.  
  
"Don't do this to me, please don't, don't play stupid games with me, Potter" Lilly said crying slightly harder.  
  
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I'll stop, just please, tell me what's wrong" James said trying his best to use his hazel eyes as a weapon, to his surprise they worked, Lilly giggled slightly,  
  
"James I know this sounds totally stupid, and probably darn right mean, but I cant, I just really don't feel like telling anyone, I'm sorry," Lilly said sadly  
  
"Oh, okay, yeah, I understand" James said, he didn't have a clue why she wasn't going to tell him but he had herd Moony say that girls took their time to tell people stuff, so it was only a matter of time, James thought. Even thought most people would of taken what Lilly had just said to be a subtle goodbye, James stayed put, "Can I ask you something?" James asked Lilly, who was wiping her eyes on her sleeve.  
  
"You just did she said pulling her sleeve away from her eyes, James smiled,  
  
"Fine, can I ask you something else? After this question I mean" James corrected, Lilly nodded,  
  
"Why did you come here, its not as though you need to catch up on your schoolwork" James asked as he levitated a tissue box over from the windowsill and handed Lilly a tissue. Lilly paused when he finished asking his question, she bit her lip, and James suspected that she was thinking about whether she should tell him or not, she did, "Well, Lou was going, you know who Lou is right?" Lilly asked before continuing, James nodded, Lilly continued, "Well, she was going, and Laura, you know who Laura is don't you?" Lilly asked again, James nodded, and Lilly once again continued, "Well Laura was thinking about going, so I decided that well, since me and my sister don't get on very well, I decided to be here with the rest of the gang, and anyway, it doesn't hurt to do some more school work" Lilly said, James had the feeling that she wasn't being a hundred present truthful, but he didn't press the subject, "So what about you, why are you here? I can't see one of the famous Marauders wanting to be at school, what's your story?" She asked him  
  
"I didn't choose to be here, I, I, well, I got to many detentions this year, and Dumbledore made me stay behind, that's why Pad-, Sirius, Remus and Peter are here as well, coz of me" James said, he conveniently forgot to mention that the reason this summer school thing was on was because of him, but he didn't really want Lilly to know that. "Lilly, there you are, we were so worried" Laura exclaimed running down the stairs in a pink dressing gown.  
  
"We thought you might have done a runner." Lou exclaimed running down in her blue pyjamas behind Laura, to hug Lilly,  
  
"'A runner'?" James asked  
  
"Oh, sorry Potter, I err didn't see you there" Laura said suddenly seeing James, Lou grinned at him, and then at Lilly, then she snapped back into focus,  
  
"Are you alright?" She asked Lilly  
  
"Err, yeah, I'm, err, I'm fine" Lilly said standing up, she looked pale under the light and she was holding her head, she toppled over slightly, and James and Laura caught her, "Err, Lill's, I'm guessing you should stay off the firewhisky" Lou said, Lilly laughed slightly, but stopped and held her head again. James helped her to the staircase then said goodnight to Lilly, Laura and Lou, "Night Potter" Laura said to him,  
  
"Call him James, he called you Laura, Night, James" Lou said pronouncing his name very clearly, Lilly laughed,  
  
"Yeah, night James" she said. When James was back in bed, the potion safe under his bed he had the best dream of his life, when he woke up a few hours later, he couldn't remember the details, only that he, Lilly, Lou, Laura, Peter, Sirius and Remus had all been in a room, but not at the same time. "I can tell you, I wouldn't mind that dream happening again," James told his friends at Breakfast. When Breakfast was over, the Gryffindor's were to be doing Drama, the Ravenclaw's to be doing Music, the Slytherin's to be doing Quidditch and the Hufflepuff's to be doing proper lessons,  
  
"I'd tell ya, I'd pay money to watch Snivellus on a broom" Peter told his friends when they were lined up in the hall waiting for Professor Drummond to appear.  
  
"The most complex thing about Drama, and acting in general, is to be able to dazzle, and astound your audience" Professor Drummond said suddenly appearing out of a broom closet, and scaring half the class, "As you will find out, the key to success, is to dazzle your audience. Dazzle them, and they will be yours" He continued in is dramatic voice, "Now, who here has had previous experience in acting?" he asked, only one person in the class raised their hand, that was Lou, "Young lady, your name please?" He asked Lou  
  
"Lou Stevenson, sir" She replied, for some reason, and James couldn't figure out why, Laura and Lilly were smirking.  
  
"Ah, yes, please tell me your experience or qualifications" He asked her, Lou went bright red and started muttering plays, commercials and classes she had done, Professor Drummond looked quite taken aback, and so did the rest of the class, "Oh, sir, she also was an extra on the muggle film called Jaw's last year, weren't you, Lou?" Laura asked grinning and making Lou go red, but she nodded,  
  
"And, Lou is going to be in another muggle film next year, aren't you Lou? Something called Star Wars, isn't that right Lou?" Lilly said giving Laura a high five, Lou muttered something that sounded like a yes. Professor Drummond looked surprised, "Please wait behind after class, Miss Stevenson." Lou nodded and glared at her friends and started muttering under her breath so no one could hear. "Now, since hardly anyone has very much practice in Muggle drama. I would like to start off with the basics, could anyone tell me three points of importance when acting?" He asked the class, everyone looked at Lou, who was staring determinedly at the floor, "Miss Stevenson, am I to believe you not to be paying attention?" Drummond asked her,  
  
"No sir. Three crucial points are to be clear and speak loudly, make eye contact and be confident" She said, still looking very interestedly at the floor, Drummond nodded,  
  
"Very good,"  
  
"Sir, it also helps if you picture the audience in their underwear" Sirius said out loud. Professor Drummond chuckled,  
  
"That also helps. Now, I have a way with working with people, and it seems to work, I always, always make people work together, and they always work with the opposite sex. Now, I want you to pair off, boy and girl, and await your instructions, while I go and talk to Professor Dumbledore, you better be paired when I get back" He said warningly. The hall suddenly erupted with talk, "Lou, have you really been in Jaws?" Sebbins asked her, she nodded,  
  
"I feel sorry for her," Remus said,  
  
"What are you going to do about it? Lilly can be quite evil, you know that James?" Peter said, James glared at him, and Peter suddenly fell silent,  
  
"I'm going to find a partner," Peter said hastily. Sirius chuckled, and left as well. Peter went over to a girl named Penelope (Penny) and they became partners. It then struck James that what a great way to get to know Lilly better than to ask her to be his partner, so he walked over there, and to his amazement, Sirius said to Laura, "Hey, Laura, you got a partner?" Laura shock her head, "Please go my partner, I don't want to go with Sebbins, he scares me" Laura said in a panicked voice, Sirius looked quite taken aback, since James figured he had gone to ask her and she asked him, "Yeah, sure, I was going to ask you anyways" Sirius said in a way that made him look so effortlessly elegant, on the other side of Sirius, Remus ask her an off topic question before asking her the real one, James thought,  
  
"Yeah, I'll be fine, I just didn't really want people to know," She laughed.  
  
"Have you got a partner?" He asked her. Lou shook her head and did a fake pout making Remus laugh, "Will you go my partner then?" He asked  
  
"Of course" She replied. Great, thought James, now I have to ask Lilly, or I'll have no one to go with, Please don't turn me down, please don't turn me down, James pleaded with himself.  
  
"Hey, Lilly. Go my partner?" James asked when he came face to face with Lilly, oh real smooth; make her feel special, that was so, so stupid of me, James thought to himself,  
  
"Sure" Lilly's voice said somewhere back in reality,  
  
"What?" he asked, not really hearing her?  
  
"Yeah I'll go partners with you," She repeated again  
  
"Oh, right, cool" James said smiling. When Professor Drummond came back into the class about five minuets later he was smiling,  
  
"Well done, I see you have all paired off, now, since we are starting with the basics, we shall just start with arranging all the emotions. I want you to think of all the emotions that are important in Acting, begin now please." Professor Drummond commanded. James did really care about what they were doing, but he did care about what Lilly thought about him, so he kept his voice quiet about how easy he thought this was. Professor Drummond had them doing this all the way up to break, then after break, they had to show their emotions to him, and by the end of the day, most people were pretty sick of showing their emotions, until he made them do a 'Emotional performance to the class' at about four o'clock, when they only had an hour left of class. "Do you want to do a love one?" James asked Lilly smirking, she rolled her eyes, but before she could truthfully answer, Professor Drummond told them that he would be telling them what emotion they would be doing. "Awwwww James's bubbles has burst" Lilly said in a mock tone of voice. When it was their turn to do their 'Performance', James wasn't too happy, because they had to do a scene of rage. Lilly on the other hand, had tons of experience with James, managed to pull it off fantastically, and got an O. While James pleaded with Drummond that it was impossible to act angry at Lilly, as he fancied her like crazy, James finally gave up his case when Professor Drummond reminded him, in front of the whole class, that Lilly managed to do the scene perfectly, so he should probably stop, 'fancying Lilly, like crazy.' At dinner Sirius had asked them what they thought of Professor Drummond, "I think he should stop treating us like kids, I mean, no offence, but I think I know my emotions" Peter said  
  
"Yes. And Mr Petigrew, I believe you have not learnt to bottle up your emotions, have you dear boy?" Professor Drummond said smiling. Peter just shock his head and stuttered, professor Drummond said no more, but just swept away like a hawk. James, Sirius and Remus were chuckling silently to themselves, "Hey, you two, what made you want to go partners with Laura and Lou?" James asked them suddenly, looking at Remus and Sirius,  
  
"Well, Lou was pretty upset, and she didn't have a partner, and she did get me an O, so I'm not complaining" Remus said casually,  
  
"Okay, what about you Padfoot?" James asked Sirius,  
  
"I was rescuing Laura from the hands of Sebbins, I don't want to hear him brag about how he got a pretty partner in drama, do I?" Sirius said with his nose wrinkled up. The Marauders laughed,  
  
"Black, I hate you!" Someone said to Sirius as they walked passed, "I had a chance with her and you blew it for me!" Sebbins said  
  
"What are you on about? Oh, and I hate you too" Sirius said loathingly  
  
"You took Laura as a partner, just to see me miserable" Sebbins said Sirius, who had just finished off his dinner, said in reply, "No, Sebbins, I took Laura as a partner, so not to see, her, miserable" Sirius said giving Sebbins a fake smile and making his way back to his dormitory, the rest of the Marauders in tow.  
  
"Class, Padfoot, class" Peter exclaimed when they were in the common room, Peter always got like this when Sirius did something like this, when James did something in Quidditch, and when Remus did some really quick thinking, after a while though, James thought, It gets slightly boring, but he could live with it. At eleven o'clock, when most of the common room was empty, James was on duty to add the powdered cockroaches to the potion, "Be right back" He told them. Two more days and then I can get some proper sleep, James thought to himself. James waited an extra few seconds to make sure the potion fizzed up like it was supposed to, it did. Then he went back down stairs. To his surprise he saw that Sirius, Remus and Peter had three girls around him, to his greater shock, he saw they were, Lilly, Lou and Laura, Lilly of whom was sitting in his chair.  
  
"Oh sorry James, I'll move" Lilly said seeing him  
  
"No, its okay, stay were you are" James replied, wanting a chance to show off, and he did. James conjured a chair from across the room and sat down. Laura and Lou giggled, but Lilly glared at them and they shut up, James had the distinct impression that Laura and Lou were a lot like Remus, Peter and himself, they tend to do stuff that Lilly asked for, just like they did for Sirius, Interesting, James thought.  
  
"What do you think we'll be doing tomorrow?" Laura asked the group, they all shock their heads  
  
"I hope its music" Lou said  
  
"Why? Are you good?" Remus asked  
  
"No, but its an excuse to get back at Laura, and hopefully we'll do swimming with professor Midgeal, then I can get back at Lilly" Lou said grinning evilly  
  
"How?" Peter asked  
  
"Lilly's really, really good at swimming, has won countless gold medals, and Laura here, can play..." Lou cut off, she was counting on her fingers, looking up at the ceiling, "I never knew the ceiling was that colour" She said suddenly, the gang laughed, "Sorry. Anyway. Laura plays nine instruments, no, sorry... Ten" Lou said grinning evilly at Laura, who blushed and looked up at the ceiling,  
  
"You know Lou, your right, the ceiling is kind of different" Laura said staring at the spot Lou had. The gang all laughed. The conversation changed from, Lou's embarrassment, to: Summer school in general, music, something Snape had said to the girls, (Which made James, Remus, Sirius and Peter all go want to find him and kill him) and the last conversation topic was the dance the girls had heard Dumbledore was throwing. "He's throwing a Dance?" Sirius asked Laura who told them about it, "Yeah. Well, that's what we heard" Lilly said  
  
"When is it?" Peter asked  
  
"Last week of term. I mean, summer school," Laura said  
  
"Plenty of time" James said  
  
"Plenty of time for what?" Lou asked him  
  
"Plenty of time to get Lilly to say yes to go to the dance with me, and to kill any other guys who approach her" James said winking at Lilly.  
  
"Yeah, what ever James. What ever." Lilly said  
  
"What makes him think he'd have to try" Laura whispered into Lou's ear so Lilly didn't hear but James did.  
  
"So who have you all got plans to go with, obviously not you James, coz we all know about you" Sirius said, James smirked and winked at Lilly again who smiled slightly and rolled her eyes.  
  
"Come on, spit it out! Tell me. Who are we going to tell, oh come on, its not as if I would care if you all wanted to go with me" Sirius said jokingly. To James's surprise though, Lou leaned over to Lilly, and whispered something and they both laughed hard, James unfortunately, didn't hear what it was. None of the girls would tell any of them whom they wanted to go with, and none of the boys told whom they wanted to go with. At one o'clock they finally called it a night, and went off to bed, "Oh, Lilly, if were in partners, your going with me" James called out to Lilly. Lilly smiled but nodded, Yes! James thought. Following his lead, Sirius called out to Laura, "Will you need saving again from Sebbins tomorrow?" She laughed and nodded,  
  
"If you don't mind" "As if I would," Sirius said winking at her  
  
"Lou, if you cant find anyone you want to go with, will you go with me?" Remus asked Lou. She went the tiniest bit red, but it was dark, so only the boys could see, and they smirked at each other. Remus had never had the same air of confidence that Sirius and James had, neither did peter for that matter, "Yeah, sure" Lou said. The boys then went up the stairs, and the first thing anyone said was  
  
"How the hell do you do it?" Peter demanded when they were in bed  
  
"Do what, Wormtail?" James asked  
  
"Get those girls wrapped round your finger?" Peter asked  
  
"Confidence my friend, confidence" Sirius "Try it out with that Penny girl, she's quite cute," Sirius suggested  
  
"Alright, I will" Peter said. Ten minuets later, they were all fast asleep, all except James. His head was filled of Lilly, things Lilly had said. He didn't understand why she was being like this, was it because he was being slightly more sensitive? He asked himself, "No mate, it's because your not jinxing anyone you see and don't like" A voice in the back of his head said. James then fell asleep on that thought. 


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight: The Map  
  
"Hey, Sebbins. Looks like you out of luck with a partner today, doesn't it" Sirius said evilly across the breakfast table. James and Peter roared with laughter.  
  
"Hey, Frank, how are you, I didn't know you were here" James said greeting a boy who had just sat next to them.  
  
"I'm alright thanks. Nah, my parents and me were going on holiday, but the weather was too bad, so I decided to come here, Dumbledore said it was okay" The boy called Frank said "Anyway, what's going on today?" He asked picking at his bacon  
  
"Dumbledore will tell us in a minuet -who are you staring at?" Sirius demanded  
  
"No one, I was looking to see who was here, that's all." Frank said looking at Sirius strangely. The rest of them, aside from Sirius laughed.  
  
"Students, today my waffling will be short, Hufflepuff's you will be doing, Quidditch, Ravenclaw's you will be doing, Drama, Slytherin's, you will be doing,  
  
normal lessons and Gryffindor's, you will be doing Music. James and Sirius gave each other a smile, "Laura's going to have fun today" Sirius said to the rest of the boys.  
  
"Hello class" Professor Flitz said in a un-naturally high voice, the class said hello back, "Now as you should know, I am your musical teacher, I will be teaching you to play, the drums, piano, keyboard, guitar and the clarinet. I shall be assigning you a partner at the end of the day, to see what your partner thinks of your playing, now, I will assign you to an instrument..." Professor Flitz broke off, for Lilly and Lou's hands were in the air, "Yes Miss...." Professor Flitz asked  
  
"Stevenson, Lou Stevenson Miss. My friend, Laura, well, err she can play those instruments, what does she do?" Lou replied, James looked over at Laura and Lilly, Laura was hiding her face, and Lilly was grinning evilly. James flashed Lilly a smile that she retuned.  
  
"She can't possibly play them all, tell me what ones does she play?" Professor Flitz asked Lou, ignoring Laura slightly, "She can play the Drums, keyboard, piano, Guitar, both electric and acoustic, the clarinet, bass, flute piccolo and the trumpet." Lou rounded off, flashing a smile at Laura, who was now looking at the teacher's reaction.  
  
"My, that is an mixture, do you mind if you just practice the instruments then?" She asked Laura, who shock her head.  
  
"Now, as I was saying, you will be paired up at about three o'clock for a chance to play to your partner. She or he will tell you the grade she, or he, thinks you deserve, then you will play to me, and I will tell you your grade. Now, come here and I'll give you your instrument" Flitz said. James ended up with an electric guitar, Sirius with a set of drums, which to James, he looked really happy with. Peter ended up with a trumpet, which seemed to be taking his breath away. And Remus had the keyboard to practice on. Over the way, Lilly was playing the Clarinet, Lou was playing the flute and it looked like Professor Flitz was trying to challenge Laura, as she was the only one in the class with a Bass. By three o'clock that day, James and Sirius had mastered their instruments, Remus was having a little trouble because as Professor Flitz said, "He didn't have piano fingers" And Peter, well Peter obviously didn't suit having a trumpet, as he was very red in the face and very out of breath, "Partner up, partner up" Came the un-naturally high voice of Professor Flitz. James went over to Lilly, "Remember your promise?" He asked her in a somewhat mature voice, Lilly nodded, "Come on then, show me how good James Potter is at a musical instrument" Lilly said  
  
"Fine" James said grinning. At the end of the day, James had come out with an E from Lilly, and an O from Professor Flitz, "What did you guys get?" James asked the boys when they were up in the common room  
  
"O" Sirius said  
  
"E" Remus said, they all looked at Peter, "Err a P," he said in a very small voice. The boys suppressed a smile, "Its not that bad, I'd come off worse if I was playing the trumpet" Remus said. "Oh, I better go do the potion" Remus said. Remus never came back down, so the boys all decided to turn in earlier. James was absolutely dreading today, he had classes today, classes meant work, and work meant, no fun. Well at least I'm smart, James told him self confidently, while walking to Charms with Sirius, Remus and Peter. "Are you guys going to try and sit next to the girls?" Remus asked. This was the first proper time Remus had actually talked to the boys about the girls,  
  
"Maybe, depends" Sirius said  
  
"Probably" Peter said  
  
"Yip" James said bluntly, "Are you?" He asked Remus  
  
"Well if you lot are, then what choice do I have" Remus said jokingly.  
  
"What do you think of them anyways?" Sirius asked them  
  
"There all right" Peter said  
  
"Yeah, their cool. Second coolest gang there is, and second most famous," Remus said, but James couldn't help but notice he had gone a tiny bit pink. "Well, Laura and Lou are cool, but you know what I think about Lilly" James said smirking.  
  
"Yeah, we do" Remus said. When they arrived at their class, Professor Flitwick told them that they would just be going over what they had learned before, because everyone was at a different level. That's what the teachers had said all day, so the Marauders spent the time talking to Lilly, Lou and Laura. Or they raced objects around the classroom when the teacher wasn't looking. When the boys were back in the common room, Lilly, Lou and Laura joined them. "Can we join you?" Laura asked in her bubbly voice. The boys nodded. Once again the boys and girls didn't get to bed till about one, two o'clock in the morning. "Those girls are great" Remus said as they lay in bed, trying to fall asleep.  
  
"Hmmm, I'll stick with Penny thanks" Peter said. James heard him rolling over in his bed to face the wall.  
  
"I never meant it like that" Remus said. James then heard Remus rolling over too. Sirius didn't say anything, so James removed his glasses and fell asleep.  
  
"What are we doing today then?" Peter asked the Marauders when they were getting dressed.  
  
"I don't know about you lot, but I'm doing the potion and spell," Remus said  
  
"Spell?" Peter questioned, tugging his on socks  
  
"The personality spell, Wormtail" James told him  
  
"Have you done one before, Money?" Sirius asked Remus  
  
"No, that's why I need the night, and as much as the day I can get, since I need to practice the personality spell on a few cushions. Oh shoot, we need Penisive!" Remus told them  
  
"Why?" Peter asked now pulling on his shoes  
  
"Because we need to put some of our personalities in to the map, so we need to get our mischievous side into the Penisive, then take it out, then put it in the "So what, you're going to chat up every girl who uses the map?" James asked jokingly, pulling on his cloak. Sirius replied casually,  
  
"Depends, if she happens to have the right name, and touch then defiantly"  
  
"What does that mean?" Peter asked. James who was too busy putting books into his trunk, didn't answer  
  
"It means" Remus said, "That Sirius has found another piece of prey"  
  
"Oi. What do you mean prey?" Sirius asked making his way down the boy's staircase.  
  
"I was just saying that you've been lucky in the fact you've had so many girlfriends," Remus said grinning  
  
"What he really means," James said joining them "Is that Sirius, you've had to many chicks and you're a player," he continued. Sirius merely laughed, "I'll have you know, that I have no intention on making a move on this girl, mainly because I want her to like me, before she thinks that I'm asking her out because she's hot" Sirius said, walking into the great hall  
  
"Well we know one thing about her, she's a hot chick" Peter said, the others laughed.  
  
"Hey, you guys" Lilly said as the boys sat down, to James's utter amazement, Lilly sat down opposite him, Lou and Laura soon joined them.  
  
"So, guess what were doing today?" Lilly asked the boys.  
  
"Well for one, you're going my partner in what ever it is," James told Lilly,  
  
"Well, I would, but. Dumbledore said it was a free day. We can do what we please," Lilly told him.  
  
"Cool, so you gals got any proper plans for today?" Remus asked them. They shook their heads, "Good, good" Sirius said quietly.  
  
"Guys, I'm going back to bed, I'm really tiered" Remus said after finishing his breakfast, "I'll see you later" James and the rest of them said goodbye, and watched him leave,  
  
"Is it something I said, or did?" Lou asked the boys, the girls on the other hand rolled their eyes,  
  
"Nah, Remus is always tired" James told her.  
  
"Ignore Lou, she has a feeling when someone leaves its because of her, she's always like this" Laura explained while Lilly nodded her head.  
  
"Oh well, I'll see you guys later" Sirius said getting up  
  
"Where are you going?" Lou asked horror-struck  
  
"No where, I was joking," Sirius said laughing, the gang burst into laughter as well. Lou though, blushed a deep shade of red. The boys spent the rest of the day with the girls, at first they had fun out by the lake, then they chatted in the common room, then they went back outside to have a fight with the squid because Laura started to get bored of the Quidditch conversation. At seven o'clock that night, James, Peter, Sirius, Laura, Lou and Lilly were all seated for dinner.  
  
"Well that was a long sleep" Lou said to someone behind James's head, he turned round to see Remus standing there.  
  
"Yeah, nah, actually, I couldn't find you guys, but I had a slight run in with a certain Snivellus, I mean, Snape" Remus said remembering Lilly was there. "I'll tell you guys about it later, I'm starving," He said digging in to his dinner. James noticed that Lou was looking at Remus strangely throughout dinner; he guessed that it was because he was being so quiet about where he was all day. After dinner the girls told the boy's that they had to speak to Professor Flitwick about something. So the Marauders took advantage and went to talk to Dumbledore. They went to his office to wait for him, a few minuets later they were in his office with Remus saying: "Sir, could we borrow your Penisive?" Professor Dumbledore looked at him strangely, and then round at the other faces, "May I ask why? Mr Lupin" He asked Remus.  
  
"Well, when we were doing Quidditch, James did this really cool swerve thing, and I really want to learn it, but James cant remember doing it, so he doesn't know what it was, and I really want to learn it, so I thought that if I used the Penisive, I could see how James did it, and then I could learn it." Remus replied. James thought for a moment. What swerve did I do? Then he remembered that Remus was the best one at lying, not that he actually did it often. The Professors hadn't seemed to notice that whenever all four of them were in a tight situation, Remus would always be the one to get them out of trouble, and out of Detention. Remus's parents were excellent at Occlumency, and James guessed the gift had been passed down, since Remus had never had lessons in Occlumency. Ten minuets later, to their great surprise, James, Peter, Sirius and Remus were upstairs in their dormitory with a piece of parchment on the table, and the potion in a dropper, along with an old map Sirius had ripped out of a library book.  
  
"Right, Put the map on to the parchment, then we can get the map transferred on to the parchment" Remus ordered Peter, Peter did as he was told. "Now, put as many thoughts of secret passage ways you know into the Penisive, then draw them out and put them in the potion" Remus said to everyone.  
  
Half an hour later, the boys were still in the same place, "Now its time for the personality charm," Remus said, he did a very swift and complicated wand movement, then he whispered a foreign language and pointed his wand at Sirius then at the map, the parchment gave off a little bit of coloured smoke, but Remus seemed to think it was natural. He then did the same to each of the other boys, then himself.  
  
"Now. We need a password," Remus said  
  
"I solemnly swear, that I am up to no good" Sirius said smiling mischievously, "No one is going to get that, their not stupid enough to say that to a piece of parchment." He added. James agreed, so Remus put another spell on it, "Now, all we need to do is sign it, and test it to see if it works" the boys all picked up their wands, and one by one, they drew there nicknames into the map, leaving behind a trail of wand sparks that disappeared momentarily.  
"Do the honours Padfoot, my friend" Remus said to Sirius  
  
"'I solemnly swear, that I am up to no good'" Sirius said grinning. Suddenly the map exploded emitting a large puff of red smoke, James thought for a moment, that it hadn't worked. Then when the smoke cleared, tons of lines and different coloured dots were visible on the piece of parchment, and James saw four dots on the map named, Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. James gave a leap of excitement. Getting up to celebrate their victory, Sirius suddenly said, "Well, at least we know it works" James looked round at him and said,  
  
"How?"  
  
"Because the little dot, labelled, Prongs. Is moving, just like you are," Peter said.  
  
"Hey, don't we need a welcome note, something catchy, some thing like err: Messer's Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present the Marauder's map?" James suggested, they nodded in agreement, and Remus did one last spell, and smiled. "I think this is one of our best achievements to date," he said. The boys all stayed up late looking at the map, and where everyone was, by the end of the night, the Marauders had learned, off by hart, were the Slythrin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Common rooms were. They planned on giving Snivilly a little visit tomorrow. 


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter nine: The Slythrin Common Room  
  
"Hi, you guys okay?" A voice asked them when they were in the common room, waiting for Peter to get his cloak on. James turned around to find himself face to face with Lilly, who had some toast with her. Lou, who had some toast stuck in her mouth, she was trying to fasten her clock clipping, and Laura, who was trying to prevent the marmalade on her toast from sliding everywhere. "Yeah, were alright" Said Sirius who was still smiling about the map, all of the Marauders were.  
  
"Gosh, Lilly, can you do my clip up, I can't see it" Lou pleaded, through a muffled voice, because of the toast still in her mouth.  
  
"I cant, I've got butter on my fingers" Lilly said trying to finish her toast.  
  
"Laura?" She said looking at her nicely, Laura pointed at her toast, then her wiggled her fingers that were covered in marmalade, and then she shrugged.  
  
"I'll do it" Remus said, and he fastened her clock,  
  
"You shouldn't off done that," Lilly said laughing, Remus looked confused,  
  
"Lou has trouble with that clock every morning, and me and Lilly get sick of doing it, and you've just volunteered your life away" Laura said laughing. Lou glared at them and mumbled something sounding like, no she didn't.  
  
"Haven't you had your breakfast yet?" Lilly asked the boys, who shock their heads.  
  
"Oh," Lilly said  
  
"Were going down again, can we come with you?" Laura asked them  
  
"Yeah sure" Sirius smirked. On the way down to the Great Hall, Sirius was talking to Laura and Lilly, and Lou was talking to Peter.  
  
"I haven't really singed my life away, have I?" Remus asked James. James sighed and chuckled, "What?" Remus asked just as they entered the Great Hall, which was still quite full.  
  
"You heard me," James said sitting next to Lilly, leaving Remus to his thoughts. Half way through James's second piece of toast, Lilly said to him, "I really don't like him, he's been insulting me ever since I got here" James looked at her and pulled out his wand,  
  
"Who? I'll curse him," James said trying to stand up,  
  
"James. Sit down, Dumbledore's up there" Lilly pointed out "It doesn't matter anyway" She continued  
  
"Tell me who, I'll get them later" James insisted.  
  
"No one" Lilly said again, James hit her with a stare, "Okay, Snape" She said quietly. James nodded to tell her that he wasn't going to do anything drastic, but he couldn't wait till the Marauders had there say, when they got to the Slythrin common room. He was going to hit Snape with every jinx he could think "Your hooked on her" he said of. To the left of him, Lou and Laura were whispering, no one else seemed to notice, so James tried to tune it out, until his name was mentioned, "She does like James, you owe me a gallion" Laura told Lou.  
  
"There's no proper proof, she only likes him as a friend, I know Lilly, she gets like that" Lou told her  
  
"Are you trying to tell me I don't know one of my best friends?" Laura asked in a dangerous whisper,  
  
"No, I'm trying to save myself a gallion" Lou said sulkily, then she flipped a golden coin into Laura's hand, who smiled and said,  
  
"Thanks."  
  
The girls spent the rest of the day with the boys, not that they were complaining. Peter though went off about three o'clock, saying he needed to talk to Penny, "You go Peter" Sirius said. Laura looked at him funny, "He fancies her crazy" Sirius explained to her.  
  
"He hasn't got a chance" Laura said bluntly, Sirius looked at her strangely and demanded,  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Oh, I don't mean it that way," Laura said, suddenly realising what she just said, and how mean it sounded. "Its just that Penny is going out with that Tom Rush guy, he's in Slythrin" Laura said apologetically.  
  
"Oh, okay" Sirius said. Later on in the common room, Peter still wasn't back, "Why is she taking so long to reject him," Lilly asked "No offence meant" Lilly added in nicely.  
  
"What are you lot doing on the Hogsmeade weekend?" Lou asked not really paying attention, as she was platting her hair.  
  
"What Hogsmeade visit?" Remus asked  
  
"Do you ever read the message board? There's one next Friday," Lou told him  
  
"Oh, well I donno, were probably going to get some stuff from Zonco's, right?" Remus asked the other guys, they all murmured in agreement.  
  
"Unless," Sirius said with a grin creeping on to his face, they all looked up at him,  
  
"Unless what?" Lilly asked  
  
"Well, unless you want to go about with us?" Sirius said, his voice so full of confidence as if he knew they would say yes.  
  
"Well, if you put it that way, cool" Lou said.  
  
"Lou!" Lilly and Laura said  
  
"What?" She asked  
  
"We had plans, remember," Laura said, looking slightly hurt.  
  
"Oh, sorry, I just thought it would be good for Lilly and James to get to know each other better" Lou said going red.  
  
"Well, if you put it like that, okay" Laura said. Lilly glared at them, but before she could say anything, James cut in,  
  
"It's a date then" James said, directing it more at Lilly than Lou and Laura. The boys grinned,  
  
"Haha, don't count on it, Potter" Lilly said, "Come on, we have work to do" Lilly said to the other girls, who followed her out the room and up the girls stairs.  
  
"Well, your happy now aren't you Prongs?" Remus said "Got a 'kind of' date with Lilly" He added in. James laughed,  
  
"You know, I am, and you two should be too, because Lou and Laura are good looking and all, and you too can have them"  
  
"Already working on it!" Sirius said with confidence, James and Remus just laughed.  
  
"You know, I cant wait till Wormtail gets back, he's going to make the day, because then we can go to the Slythrin common room, and kill Snivilly" James said, smiling mischievously. The boys all waited until about ten o'clock, until the portrait door finally opened,  
  
"Wormtail, where have you been?" Remus exclaimed  
  
"Err, I got caught up by Snivellus, and I forgot my wand" Peter said wincing.  
  
"Right, come on, I'll get my clock and the map, and were off" James said angrily, "No one pushes the Marauders around" He added going up the stairs. Ten minuets later the Marauders were concealed under the cloak, with the map in Sirius's hand. "Wands ready?" James asked them, they all nodded,  
  
"Right then, let's go" Sirius commanded.  
  
"Do we have to?" Peter asked sacredly  
  
"Yes, we do. I agree with them on this one. We have too, he's made your life, Lilly's life and James's life, hell." Remus whispered to him. They made sure they couldn't be seen in a nearby mirror, then as swiftly as possible, they made their way down a dark, cold, cobweb covered corridor, leading to what they knew to be the dungeons. They heard voices up a head, "She is a mudblood, that's the only word for it, just dump the cow, get it over with, don't ruin your reputation, she's not even hot" Someone was telling someone else  
  
"Are you sure she's a mudblood?" He asked back, they guy nodded, "Okay, thanks, Mark". When the coast was clear, they made progress, until they came across a dead end, "I think this is the entrance," Sirius said. They only had to wait thirty seconds to find out whether Sirius was right or not, "Blood" a voice said behind them. The boys recognised the voice, it was a greasy, know it all, it was the voice of Serverus Snape, the boys grinned at each other, evilly. They followed Snape into a vast, green and silver room. "Lets go wreck his room" Sirius suggested, looking menacingly at Snape, Remus made a little noise of unwillingness, but didn't act anymore on it. The boys made their way up the stairs very quietly. They stopped at each room until they got to the top most and noticed that the door plaque said 'Fifth year boys', the boys grinned evilly, and entered slowly. Inside was a room almost identical to the boys dormitories, it was large, beautiful and made out of wood, the only notable difference was it covered in green, "Lets put a little colour change you know, just to liven them up a bit" Sirius said  
  
"Yeah, after all, I've never like the colour green" Peter agreed, James nodded and drew out his wand, Sirius and Peter followed in suit, but Remus looked a bit reluctant, but did still draw out his wand. Half an hour later, the Marauders were still in the Slytherin's dormitories when they herd the distinct sound of people's voices. Hiding under the invisibility cloak, they watched as Snape and another boy they were not familiar with, walk in to the room. At first they just continued talking, until thirty seconds later, their mouths fell wide open. Sirius and James went into silent fits of laughter, Peter looked a bit worried, but joined in, and Remus looked rather upset, like he was going to get caught. He to joined in when the two boys started searching for something, as if they were going to find the culprit. "I'm going to go get Professor Madreal," The boy other than Snape said walking out of the room.  
  
"We've got him!" Sirius snarled, he pulled his wand up closer to him, and aimed it at Snape, "Expelliarmus" He said in a low whisper, Snape turned round to face the voice, but he couldn't see anyone or thing. He was blasted half was across the room, the boys took off the cloak, Remus sealed the door with a locking spell, Sirius and James held their wands over Snape, and Peter stayed back, looking a bit weary. "So," James demanded, "You think you can give Evans a hard time, and Peter, well think again, Snivellus"  
  
"Leave...Me...Alone...Potter" Snape said, still heavily breathing  
  
"You think that James is going to leave you alone, look at all the crap you have put us through, and now your starting on Lilly, anyways, this is James's way of getting Lilly's revenge on you, for you calling her a Mudblood," Sirius said, Snape glared at them, but he got up, uneasily to his feet,  
  
"Your pathetic Potter, pathetic, you hear me, PATHETIC" he shouted out. James laughed, "You think I care what the hell you think, think again" Ten minuets later, there was a patter of feet, and it sounded as though that boy had finally found Professor Madreal. "Come on, let's leave" Remus said, "Hold on, one moment" Peter said, "Obliviate" He shouted, the one spell that Peter always succeeded in was the memory charm, for Snape was on his back, knocked out cold, covered in jinxes, "Alohaomora" Remus whispered, taking off the locking charm on the door, and hiding himself under the cloak. The door opened and there was a gasp, "What happened to the room?" The teacher exclaimed, obviously looking at the drastic colour change from green to red.  
  
"Look," The boy said, pointing at the unconscious Snape covered in jinxes, Professor Madreal gasped, help him up to the Hospital wing, I'll get Madam Levinatra to help him" Professor Madreal said, running out of the room, with Snape on a stretcher, the boys followed them out of the room quietly and silently laughing.  
  
When they were back at the Gryffindor common room entrance, Peter said, "Frisbee" the password, and they entered, before taking the cloak off they noticed three people sitting on the couch, the girls all looked round at the door, but they saw no one, "What was that?" James heard Lilly say, the other boys were about to pull off the cloak, but James stopped them, he wanted to hear what the girls were talking about, "Don't know" Lou replied to Lilly,  
"Oh, yeah sorry. Well anyway, you were great, you really had them fooled" Lilly said.  
  
"What can I say, I was born to act" Lou said, jokingly.  
  
"Yeah. You were great, did you see our faces as well, and we were pretty good. They hadn't a clue that you were doing it on purpose," Laura said happily.  
  
"What are they talking about?" Peter asked in a very quiet whisper. Remus shook his head, but there answer had just started to become clear: The boys had a clear view of the girls, who had just started to watch Laura do a reincarnation of the event they were talking about, the reincarnation made the boys smile, it made them smile a lot. The reincarnation they were doing was the one of Lou 'accidentally' letting it slip that they liked them, and inviting them with them on the Hogwarts trip. "Did you see his face, God, he's can be so big headed" Laura said, talking about Sirius, who frowned, and whispered,  
  
"Am not!"  
  
"Hey, Lilly, you owe me a big fee for that act" Lou said jokingly  
  
"Me? You like one of them, I know you do" Lilly said laughing. "And you Laura" Lilly said to her. The girls argued a bit then went to bed. The guys made their way up the stairs too, Sirius still complaining that he was not big headed, "Now you know why Lilly wont go out with me.... yet, because she thinks I'm big headed." James said getting ready for bed.  
  
"Hmmm," Sirius said in agreement. The rest of the night the boys just talked, mostly about the girls, arguing that they didn't fancy certain girls. The talking finally stopped about three o'clock, when Peter started to snore, then the other boys followed his lead and fell asleep. 


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten: Madam Lucinda  
  
The week went by quite quickly for all of the Marauders. James had got top marks (O's) in all his assessments along with Sirius, Remus had also got, almost top marks, but he had a few E's (Second Best (B)) but Peter, well. Peter had come of with quite bad marks, his best was an E, but, as James said to cheer him up, at least he didn't get any T's. Before they knew it, it was Thursday afternoon, and they had just exited their last class (Potions). "I'm never going to understand a forgetfulness potion," Peter complained to the rest of the Marauders.  
  
"Well, to be honest, you wouldn't, you see James," Sirius said putting an emphasis on James's name, "Well, he decided to put a little of his potion in to your drink, you know, to test it" Sirius continued,  
  
"James!" Peter wailed, "Awwwww, how could you" he wailed again.  
  
"I'm sorry, mate" James said. James spent most of the night apologising to Peter while Peter tried to make up the remedy, then Peter became even madder at him when James told him,  
  
"Wormtail, I already made you an antidote. I made it just encase my potion worked"  
  
"Oh, thanks for telling me, James" Peter said, James knew he was mad at him; he always called him by his real name when he was really mad at him. They all called each other by their real names, if they were mad enough at each other.  
  
"I did tell you! About three hours ago, but you said you were busy and to go away" James protested  
  
"Oh, and when do you ever listen to me?" Peter shouted back to him, "If you were a good friend you would have shoved it down my throat" Peter shouted again.  
  
"Oh, so what are you saying, I'm not a good friend, well fine, see if I care, I've got better things to be doing than trying to help you!" James shouted. James was well known for his quick temper, it got him in a lot of trouble with teachers, and Peter. Remus and Sirius, though, both knew when to stop winding James up, or when to stop having a go at him, since they both knew that James would do something he would regret, and they too, would regret it.  
  
"Oh, and I'll do you a favour, if your so keen on me sticking something down your throat, how about I stick this down your throat" James said, waving his wand to try and threaten Peter  
  
"Oh, so my best mate is now threatening me then?" Peter asked, trying to stay cool, but the colour had rose in his cheeks and he had just gulped very loudly, indicating that he knew fine well that James was threatening him, and he was scared to death.  
  
"Your best mate? Who's that, remember, I'm not a proper friend, but apart from that, yeah. Yeah, I'm threatening you!" James said, "So watch your step, Peter," James said, making his wand emit a huge bang, scaring the contents of the Gryffindor common room, including Peter. Later that night, Peter and James still weren't talking to each other. James was the type who would have a huge go at someone, but forget about it in the space of an hour or two, Peter on the other hand. Well, Peter didn't forget easily, and although people usually apologised to him after a while, it would take Peter the course of a week to make friends with them again, and another week to be on proper speaking terms with them. So you could say James had the memory of a fly, when it came to forgetting arguments. Peter though had the memory of an elephant, and, 'elephants never forget'. By the next morning, James and Peter still weren't talking to ach other, James had decided to stop begging Peter to be friends with him, and he said 'It wasn't worth the hassle.'  
  
"What are we going to do when we go to Hogsmeade?" James overheard Remus ask Sirius, "The trip is in less than two hours"  
  
"Well, I suppose we could split up, you know, let Lily go about with Prongs and Penny with Wormtail, I mean, its either that or leaving them two together, and I don't want to be known as the three Marauders just yet" Sirius said grimly  
  
"I know, if Peter even says one thing wrong James will have his wand on him in a millisecond, you know what he's like" Remus said getting up and looking out of the window. "He wont do anything rash, not if were there. Anyways, he values Wormtail's friendship to much, he would threaten, but never act on it" Sirius said  
  
"That's what we said last time" Remus said gravely, turning back to Sirius, "anyways, we better go wake him up" he added in, James made a movement down the stairs, pretending he didn't hear the conversation. "Morning" He said brightly. Both Sirius and Remus pretended they didn't have a conversation and so did James. Soon they were in the common room after breakfast, with half an hour to go before the trip to Hogsmeade, "I'm going to get ready" Sirius said, Remus, Peter and James all followed in suit. The boys took fifteen minuets to get ready, even though all they were doing was putting on some muggle clothes. They were all wearing a pair of slightly baggy jeans, but all in slightly different colours and different coloured shirts. James was wearing a brown shirt, bringing out his eyes, and a pair of dark blue baggy jeans, Sirius had decided to wear a black shirt, as he said it made him, "It makes me look, good, in fact. It makes me look, great!" and he too was wearing baggy jeans, but they were a lighter shade of blue. Peter was dressed in a Blue shirt and slightly green coloured, baggy jeans. Remus was dressed in a Green shirt with black baggy jeans. All in all, they looked casual, but smart, "Now remind me, why are we getting dressed up again?" Remus asked,  
  
"Because, James has a date, so does Peter, and I don't know about you, but I plan to get a proper date as well" Sirius said. Remus just sighed, and nodded.  
  
"You coming down?" Sirius asked them, they all murmured in agreement, and followed him. The boys made them selves comfy and sat on the couch, waiting for the girls, Penny was first to come down from the girls staircase, "Hey, Peter" she said in a really girly voice, "Hi, Penny, ready to go?" Peter replied, James noticed that Peter had a newfound confidence now that he was with Penny, or was it because he wasn't a friend to James anymore? He asked himself, that reminded him, "Hey, Peter, before you go, can I have a quick, private word with you?" James asked Peter standing up. Peter obviously didn't want to make a scene in front of his date, so he agreed, "Look, man, I'm sorry, I shouldn't of jumped down your throat, nor should I of even thought to put that potion in your drink, I am really sorry" James pleaded. Yeah Peter could be a bit of a pain, but who isn't, I mean, so could Sirius and Remus, but he couldn't lose any of his friends, not if he could help it anyway.  
  
"Okay, its cool, are we cool?" Peter asked,  
  
"Yeah, were cool, now go get your girlfriend!" James said  
  
"She isn't my girlfriend!" Peter sad blushing slightly  
  
"That's my point, go get her to be" James said, winking then, walking over to the rest of the group.  
  
"Oh, by the way, Lily, Lou and Laura said they would just be a minuet, something about Lou not being able to fix her cloak clasp or something" Penny told the group,  
  
"Oh, thanks for telling us" Remus said, grinning.  
  
"No problem, are you coming Peter?" Penny asked  
  
"Yeah, I'll see you guys later" Peter said out loud, then he mouthed, "Much later" making the boys go into fits of silent laughter. Next to come down the stairs, was Laura and Lily. Laura was wearing a light pink tube top, with an ankle length denim skirt and a pair of blue kitten heels. Her toenails were painted blue and they sparkled as she moved, they matched her skirt and sandals. Her blonde/brown hair hung loose, just below her shoulders and the sun glistened on it, making the natural highlights show more than ever. Laura flashed a nervous smile at the boys, before coming down the stairs to talk to them. Lily was wearing a purple crop top with a knee length emerald green skirt, which bought out the colour of her eyes more than ever. She had a pair of black kitten heels on, and her toenails were painted purple to match her crop top, her hair was tied up in a ponytail at the back, she too flashed a nervous smile and went to talk to the boys, "Lou was having trouble getting her cloak off, so she's still trying to get it off now," Laura explained sitting down.  
  
"Why's she trying to get it off?" Sirius asked  
  
"Because she thinks it doesn't go with her outfit" Laura explained, rolling her eyes.  
  
"By the way, you both look great" James said, the girls blushed,  
  
"Thanks, you lot look great too" Lily said.  
  
"Yeah, thanks" Laura said shyly  
  
"God, I hate that flipping cloak so much" Lou said from the top of the stairs. Lou was wearing an off the shoulder baby blue top, and a white pencil skirt, and a pair of white kitten heels. Lou, like Laura and Lily, had her toenails painted, and they were a pinkie, sparkly colour. She had her blonde hair loose like Laura's, only hers went down to her back. Lou was carrying three denim jackets, all of which were light shades; one a light shade of blue, one a light shade of pink, and the last was a light shade of purple. "Oh thanks Lou" Laura said, grinning at her friend and taking the blue denim jacket. Lily also took a jacket, the purple one, and thanked Lou, leaving her to put on the blue one,  
  
"No problem, I didn't want to be a loner, you know, the only one wearing a jacket" Lou laughed, "Sorry I took so long," She added  
  
"No problem" They all said.  
  
"Shall we go then?" Sirius asked, looking into Laura's eyes, she blinked and blushed,  
  
"Yeah, sure" She said Lily whispered something into Lou's ear, and she laughed and nodded, then Lily whispered something else into her ear, and Lou looked sternly at her and said,  
  
"I don't think so." They arrived at Hogsmeade at twelve o'clock; they only just caught the last coach, Lily was very quiet on the way to Hogsmeade, but she didn't tell any of the boys why.  
  
"So, what are we doing?" Laura asked when she had hopped off the coach,  
  
"Well, what ever it is, I'm doing it with Lily" James said winking at her, Lily just shook her head and sighed,  
  
"Well, that's that settled then, Lily and James can go somewhere, and we can go somewhere else," Lou said looking hopefully at the rest of the group, as if to say, well, what do you think.  
  
"Well, I was kinnda only joking, but you know, it is high on my priority list" James said winking at Lily again, who again, sighed and rolled her eyes,  
  
"Great, well, we'll see you late then" Lou said, leaving them to it,  
  
"Hey, hold on. How come me and Lily have to go together, not that I'm complaining, but, I think you four should split up as well" James said  
  
"Yeah, I think that would be a good idea," Lily said smirking, the smile on Lou's face faded,  
  
"Why would we do that?" Lou said, trying to laugh  
  
"Because if we have to split up, so do you!" Lily said  
  
"Fine, me and Lou will go together and Sirius and Remus can go together," Laura said. Lily gave her and Lou a stern look,  
  
"Okay fine, who's going with whom?" Lou asked the group,  
  
"Don't mind," Laura said  
  
"Me neither" Remus said  
  
"Well, I'll go with Laura, if that's okay with you" Sirius said bluntly. Laura blushed,  
  
"Yeah, sure" she said  
  
"You okay with me?" Remus asked half jokingly  
  
"Yeah, that's great" Lou said  
  
"Right, so shall we meet back at Hogwarts or round about here?" Laura asked,  
  
"Wherever" Lou said  
  
"Okay, well just meet up at the three broomsticks for a butter-bear?" Laura suggested. There was a murmur of agreement, they finally agreed on a time, and went there separate ways.  
  
"You don't really mind me going about with you do you?" James asked Lily, while peering into a shop window,  
  
"No, of course not, if I minded, then I wouldn't of let Lou trick me into it, she has a habit of doing that" Laura laughed.  
  
"Yeah. I noticed" James admitted. James and Lily got everything they needed from the shops, and to James surprise; Lily went happily into Zonco's, "I thought you didn't like pranks and stuff" James said to Lily, after he bought some dungbombs,  
  
"No, I never said that, I just said that I didn't like having them used on, me" Lily corrected him. James noticed there was a new shop opened, Florean Fortescue, it was a new ice cream parlour, "What your favourite ice cream flavour?" James asked Lily, hoping she hadn't seen the ice cream place,  
  
"Chocolate, why?" She asked  
  
"No reason, just wondering. Oh I need to go get something, will you stay here for a moment?" James asked Lily,  
  
"Erm, yeah, sure" She said, sitting down on one of the benches near by. James went rushing off and bought Lily and himself an ice cream. James got a vanilla one, and James obviously got Lily a chocolate one. When he got back to Lily, she was looking around to see where he had gone, "Where'd you go?" She asked him, James pulled out the ice cream from behind his back and handed it to her,  
  
"Oh, James, you shouldn't have" Lily gushed. James and Lily ate their ice creams in silence, and then Lily said something making James jump in shock,  
  
"Sorry,"  
  
"What for?" James asked  
  
"For being so nasty to you. I guess I never gave you a chance, and I should have" Lily said, looking at her feet.  
  
"Don't worry about it, I can be an idiot. I know I am, it's okay" James assured her,  
  
"Thanks" she said, kissing him on the cheek, James blushed and smiled,  
  
"What was that for?" He asked, "Not that I'm complaining of course" He added in. Lily laughed,  
  
"For being a good friend when I need one" James laughed to himself, him, a good friend, Lily knew perfectly well that he fancied her crazy, but in the long run, he still wasn't complaining.  
  
"Do you want to go get a drink?" James asked Lily about half an hour after his kiss on the cheek, (which he was still reliving the memory of.)  
  
"Yeah, I'd love to, where?" She asked,  
  
"Well, I know this little place," James said, he took her hand, and preyed that she wouldn't pull it away, she didn't, but she did blush. James led her to a place off a little alleyway, the place had the lettering: Madam Lucinda's, written on it, "Oh, this is so cute James," Lily squealed, "I never even knew this place existed!" She said. James smiled. The one thing James liked about this place is that it was small, friendly and pretty. There was no hanging around, or any people on the wrong side of the tracks; it was just a great place. James had been with quite a few girls, but he had never taken any of them to this place, this place was special, just like the girl who he was with now. James and Lily got a drink, and Lily kicked up a bit of a fuss when James paid, "You paid for the ice cream, can I please pay for this, if not then I'll feel although I'm in debt to you!" Lily hissed  
  
"That's the point," James said handing Madam Lucinda some silver. Lily blushed at his comment but made no more fuss about the money. They both talked for sometime, about everything, James now knew Lily's favourite film, colour, animal, class, food, everything. James found that the more he spent with Lily Evans, the more he found himself falling out of a crush, and into love. After they had finished their drinks, and could find no more reason for staying in the pretty little café, they made their way outside. The café was on a quiet little lane, with pretty houses and big gardens, full of mostly roses and bright coloured flowers. James and Lily sat down on the bench, since they decided that it was to late to go anywhere else, before meeting up with the rest of the group. "Look, James, I really meant it when I said I was sorry, I suppose I've seen a whole different side to you today, and over this summer" Lily said. James wondered, is she hinting, should I try to kiss her? What if that ruined the special bond they had just made, should he risk it? He didn't know, all he knew is that he was falling in love with Lily Evans and that he really wanted to kiss her, her voice bought him out of his thoughts, "I'm so glad I spent the day with you, James" Lily said, if that wasn't a hint then James didn't know what was, he smiled, "Me too" he said quietly, "Me too" He repeated. James looked Lily in the eyes,  
  
"You've got really pretty eyes" James stated moving closer to Lily, smiled,  
  
"Thanks," she said, before tilting her head into meet James lips and kissing she him softly. So, this is what it feels like to kiss the girl of my dreams, James thought, it sure was a good feeling. He had kissed tons of girls before, but with none did he ever feel this way. Lily pulled away, James didn't want it to stop, but he to pulled away, "You have nice eyes too" Lily said to James, and she smile, James had never properly noticed it before, but Lily had the nicest smile he had ever seen, and the nicest eyes.  
  
"We better get back" James said to Lily,  
  
"Yeah," She agreed, they walked hand in hand back through the pretty lane, back through the street of Hogsmeade, and into the Three Broomsticks. No one was there yet, when they looked around the pub. Lily and James sat down, they started to talk, again, then kiss, then talk again, they finally stopped talking ten minuets later when Remus and Lou walked in, they weren't holding hands, but they were talking fondly, "Shame" Lily whispered,  
  
"What is?" James asked confused  
  
"What is?" James asked confused  
  
"I was hoping I could get those two together. Oh well, never mind" Lily said  
  
"Yeah, I had that hope too" James said.  
  
"Heya," Lou said in her normal bubbly, optimistic voice "Have a good day?" She asked, sitting down opposite the couple, Lily and James grinned,  
  
"Yeah, you could say it was a good day," James said holding Lily's hand under the table. "How was your day?" James asked Lou and Remus, Lou and Remus both looked at each other,  
  
"Alright, I guess" Lou said with a straight face,  
  
"Yeah, alright" Remus said with a smile on his face, James looked at them both as if they were hiding something.  
  
"Sirius and Laura not here yet?" Lou asked  
  
"Nope," Lily said. The group talked for about five minuets, until the door to the pub opened again. Sirius walked in with his usual elegant walk, but this time something was different, this time he had a girl attached to him, this time, he had his arm round Laura, who looked extremely embarrassed about making such a scene on their entrance. They both sat down, Laura next to Lou and Sirius next to James, "So, how was you day?" Lou asked them brightly, Laura went beet red, and Sirius grinned, "Alright" he said causally,  
  
"Is anyone thirsty?" Laura asked the table, quickly changing the subject  
  
"Yeah, a bit" The girls said, not wanting to put too much pressure on Laura,  
  
"Okay, cool, I'll go get some butter-bears," Laura said,  
  
"We'll come too," Lily said, dragging Lou to her feet and pulling her over to the bar.  
  
"Okay then, what happened?" James demanded  
  
"Well, we just found out me and Laura are soul mates, and lets just say, we got together, and we got err, what's the word, oh yeah, we got caught doing something we shouldn't be doing in the play park down the road, you know, the ones that has all the little kids in it" Sirius said looking over at the girls, "Oh my God, you never, that's so cool," Lou was saying rather loudly,  
  
"Lou," Lily snapped, "That's setting a bad example" Lily told her, Lou looked as thought she ignored Lily's advice, as she went on talking to Laura, but slightly quieter, so no one could hear.  
  
"Err, Padfoot, what may I ask were you doing in the park?" Remus asked with caution,  
  
"Oh, nothing like that, we just got caught kissing, and you know what the security is like there," Sirius said offhandedly. The boys laughed and chatted about what happened during the day. James told them about Lily, and they were just about to go on to Remus's day, when the girls came back. They placed the drinks on the table, and sat down. Lily and Laura both had identical smiles on, the type which looks like I you speak, your going to die of laughter, Lou though, didn't, she was acting as though nothing was different, even thought she had just shouted out half of Laura's love life to the pub. They all made there way back up to the castle at around about six o'clock. Lily and James, hand in hand and Sirius had his arm around Laura's shoulder, with her hand around his waist. Remus and Lou were just walking normally, not hand in hand, or anything. Dinner that night was filling. By the time they were in the common room later that night, Sirius and Laura had made plans to stay at each other's side throughout the weekend, and so had Lily and James, leaving Remus and Lou together. "You don't mind do you?" Lily asked Lou,  
  
"No, no, of course not, why should I care?" Lou asked sarcastically, Lily went to say something else, but Lou cut in, "Don't bother, its fine, its cool" Lou said, but she still had a cold, icy frost to her voice. By the end of the night, when the girls said they were going to bed, Lou still wasn't back to her bubbly self, she didn't snap at anyone, she just didn't talk much, she just sat there, reading her Divination book, and when she did talk, her voice sounded colder, not as inviting, as her usual one.  
  
"She'll be fine tomorrow" Laura assured Remus before they went to bed  
  
"Yeah, she just gets like this when we lave her out, she thinks we'll abandon her, like Sa-" Lily cut off, "Never mind, it doesn't matter, night" Lily said quickly. Laura bit her lip and glared at Lily,  
  
"I didn't mean to" Lily whispered so only James could hear it faintly. Soon after the girls had gone to bed, Peter came into the common room, with Penny; he kissed her and watched as she went up the stairs to her room, "Where have you been all this time?" Sirius joked  
  
"Hogsmeade" Peter said laughing, "I'm a knackered, night guy's," He said to them yawning,  
  
"I bet you are," Sirius said quietly so only James and Remus could hear him; they both snickered at Sirius's comment. The rest of the boys soon followed lead and went to bed. James couldn't get to sleep, he was so excited about the weekend, spending it with Lily Evans, sure, he felt a bit bad for Moony not having fun with the lads, but this was Lily, the Love of his life. On that thought he fell in to a deep slumber. 


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter eleven: Lord Voldermort  
  
It was Sunday after noon, and James was sitting on the couch in the Gryffindor common room, his arms securely around Lily, talking to the gang. Sirius was there too; he also had his arm around Laura. Peter had gone off with his girlfriend again, but Remus was there, the only one missing from the usual six, was Lou, "Oh my gosh" She exclaimed running into the common room, and thrusting three papers in the direction of her friends.  
  
"What?" Laura asked alarmed  
  
"Something dreadful has happened" Lou said with a grim face on.  
  
"What?" Remus asked urgently,  
  
"Read the paper" Lou said sadly. For minuets there was silence, nothing but Lou's fidgeting made a sound, then Laura finished the story,  
  
"Oh, my God" she said  
  
"That is plain, plain, -" Laura cut off  
  
"Evil" James finished for her, she nodded. "But who did it?" James asked,  
  
"Some one called Lord Voldermort" Lou said quietly  
  
"How do you know?" Sirius asked  
  
"I asked Dumbledore if the rumours were true. He confirmed them and he said I needed to know the truth, and that it was a guy called, Lord Voldermort, more commonly know to Dumbledore, as Tom Riddle" Lou answered  
  
"Tom Riddle?" James questioned, Lou nodded, "He won a special award for schools, bout thirty years back, what's he doing killing people?" James asked. The group shock their heads, "Donno" Remus said.  
  
"I say we find more about this, Voldermort guy, and give him a piece of our mind" Lou said forcefully. Laura gave a week smile,  
  
"Lou, you can't go up to a guy who just killed five highly skilled wizards for no reason, and demand he stops" Laura said kindly  
  
"Yeah, I don't think he would listen." Remus pointed out  
  
"And no offence, but I don't want the gang to be down to a duet. Well, not yet anyways" Lily said with a smile, Lou sat down, thinking hard, "Well, we have to do something, find out what his motive is, or something" Lou said, giving them a little smile, as if to say, please.  
  
"Lou, I think you'll find that this is slightly more complicated than a play or film," Sirius told her. Lou thought for a moment,  
  
"Fine, I'll do it my self" Lou said getting up and leaving the common room.  
  
"Erm, she is going to still be like friends with us, isn't she?" James asked Lily, she nodded,  
  
"Lou will come around, but she will find out something about Voldermort, she's done this before, you know, if we feel we cant help her with something, then she'll do it her self." Lily said. Lily was right in the fact that Lou wouldn't give up, and she was also right in the fact that she would remain friends with them, but Lou had withdrawn her self from the group slightly, only speaking when she needed to. By the third week back at school, the girls had made a special bond with the boys, and vice versa. Professor Midgeal informed them during Quidditch class, that there first Quidditch match would be held next week, and it was going to be Gryffindor, versus Slythrin. James was looking forward to creaming the likes of Malfoy, the Slythrin seeker, he was in the year above him at school, and James hated him. In Drama class, Professor Drummond told them what show they would be putting on, and in Music, Professor Flitz had also informed them that they were to be doing a musical concert, and that you could chose what instrument you want to play, "Phew, I thought I'd be stuck with the trumpet" Peter had said.  
  
"Your lucky Lily, you've escaped Swimming for the while, but me and Lou, will embarrass you!" Laura said, going to Gryffindor Common room,  
  
"I'll look forward to it" Lily said sarcastically. They all took there normal places on the couches, and talked, the usual arrangement, Sirius all over Laura, James all over Lily, Peter with Penny somewhere in the castle, Remus stuck on his own, and Lou in the Library, trying to find out about Voldermort.  
  
"I don't want to do school tomorrow," Laura complained  
  
"Me neither" Sirius complained,  
  
"I hate Thursday" Laura said spitefully. The boys all looked at each other, for they all knew Friday was the night of the full moon, and that meant that the Marauders had to do a little trip to he Shrieking Shack. "I've done it" Lou said, disturbing James thought, she stood there, with an air of; I told you I could do it! Look on her face.  
  
"Done what Lou?" Laura asked  
  
"Found out about Lord Voldermort" Lou said, Lou then started to mention tons of facts about Tom Riddle, then about things called Death- eaters, which turned out to be supporters of evil people. "Death Eaters?" Lily asked Lou nodded. They asked Lou a lot of questions about the information she had dug up, but some questions she couldn't answer. By the next day, James was starting to get panicked; he didn't know what to tell the girls about Remus being a werewolf. He couldn't tell them, but he couldn't find a suitable excuse. Finally he decided to tell them that they needed to talk to Dumbledore. Lou looked at them strangely, but said nothing, James had the distinct impression Lou was taking everything in, from the fact they were trying to get away, to the fact it was the full moon, James put it down to nerves. When the girls finally believed their excuse, they all left for the hospital wing, as Remus had to go down to the Shrieking Shack with Madam Levinatra, the school matron. James had the cloak with him, and hid it up his top. When Remus was in the Whomping Willow, the entrance to the Shrieking Shack, James, Sirius and Peter all dived under the cloak, and made their way across the forest to the Whomping Willow. When they got there, they made sure no one was around, and they transformed, Peter turned into a rat, and pressed the notch making the tree that normally hit people, stop trying to hit them. Then Sirius and James transformed, James into a stag, and Sirius into a dog. They all entered the secret passageway, and were greeted by a werewolf, none of them seemed remotely surprised at this, but it had seemed, that Remus, the werewolf, had already transformed and ripped apart four chairs and a table. The rest of the night they spent time in the forbidden forest. When they got back, Remus was a human again, but his robes were torn, and he looked pale and sick. "God, it's freezing" He exclaimed, the others followed his lead, and transformed into humans,  
  
"Your right, Moony" Sirius said,  
  
"Lets get back up to the castle," Peter suggested  
  
"Good idea" James told him. Madam Pomfry gave Remus a mug of hot coco, and a set of new robes; he was also told that he had to stay in the hospital wing for the rest of the morning. Remus, who was too tired to complain, agreed. James, Sirius and Peter made there way back to the Common room, to find it completely empty, they made there way back up to bed, and James fell asleep when his head hit the pillow. The next day James was woken up by voices around him, "What's the time?" he asked sleepily,  
  
"Two thirty in the afternoon" Remus said. James got out of bed and dressed. There was something different about Remus, Sirius and Peter's expressions, they all seemed to be worried, "What's up?" James asked them.  
  
"Lou knows" Remus said  
  
"Lou knows what?" Jams asked yawning,  
  
"That I'm a werewolf" Remus said sharply, James stopped yawning instantly, and fixed Remus with a stare, "You don't know that for a fact" James told him  
  
"Yeah he does, tell him the story, Moony" Peter said  
  
"I was in the hospital wing, it was about nine o'clock, and I had just woken up, I was drinking my potion to make me feel better, when Lou walked in, she asked how I was, and what was wrong with me, because she, Lily and Laura waited up till about two o'clock in the morning for us to return, she said she got worried when we didn't. Then she asked me what the potion was for, and I told her that it was for a spell someone cast on me last night, when we were out. She seemed to believe me at first, then she asked me if I noticed how beautiful the moon was last night, I might of given it away last night, because I said, no, but I said it a bit to fast, -" Remus said,  
  
"-So, that doesn't mean she knows, she was just commenting on the moon," James told him cutting in,  
  
"Let him finish" Sirius told him, James nodded,  
  
"We then got on to the topic of an essay she had to do, for Defence against the dark arts, and she said it was to do with Bogart's, when she said this I got panicked, since she's in my DADA, class, and she would of seen what my Bogart was. I acted cool, until she asked me what mine was, I told her it was a crystal ball, then she casually said she thought it looked like the moon. Okay, I admit, by this time I was getting freaked out, most people, apart from you lot, think that it's a crystal ball, so I don't disagree, but she didn't. After she said that, she looked at me as if to say she knew, I think she was actually trying to tell by my face if I was a werewolf or not. We chatted casually for about I donno, half an hour, with no more hints of her thinking I was a werewolf, until she said that her friend was a werewolf, and that she had figured that they were. Okay, so I admit it, my face expression changed, she asked me what was up, and I told her it was because I didn't know any werewolf's, then she sighed, and I told her again that I didn't. Then she kinnda huffed and told me, 'to tell her for God's sake' since she had already figured was a werewolf, I told her time and time again that I hadn't a clue what she was on about, but she didn't listen. So I finally told her I was, and do you know what she did Prongs," Remus asked, "James shock his head, "She smiled, she didn't seem to care, she didn't give a crap." Remus explained. James looked at him funny, "She says she won't tell anyone, not even Lily and Laura. But that's not what bothers me; it's the fact that she knows, I mean. How could she? She's known me for what, one werewolf time, and she already knows!" Remus exclaimed. The boys talked about his subject for ages, until James got hungry, "Can we go down to the kitchens?" James asked. The others nodded and followed him out of the room. The conversation was the same down in the kitchens; they didn't bother about the house elves being there, because they were bound not to tell anyone any secrets.  
  
They went back up to Gryffindor common room at about five o'clock, by that time, Lily, Laura and Lou were sitting by a table and chairs, there heads buried above tons of books and pieces of parchment. Sirius went over to them, "Doing homework on a day like this, don't you have better things to do?" Sirius asked them,  
  
"Like what?" Laura asked him looking up from her parchment, that had a lot of writing on it,  
  
"Well, you could be kissing me for one thing" Sirius said, before kissing her on the lips. Lou rolled her eyes and went back to her parchment. Lily put down her parchment and picked up her book, no sooner had Lily picked it up, did James snatch it out of her hands, "James, give that back, I've got work to do" Lily said smiling,  
  
"Animagi: how to become your favourite creature" James read out loud,  
  
"Give it back, were doing Professor Macgonnagal homework that you obviously haven't done, remember, she asked us all to research on Animagus and find a creature we would all like to become, and explain the steps of how we would do it." Lily reeled off,  
  
"Oh that, we've done it" Sirius said offhandedly.  
  
"Oh" Lou said, "Well you can help us then, I've never meet an Animagus before" Lou said, staring at them with that smile that said, please Lily, and Laura were now giving the smile too,  
  
"Sure" Peter said, smiling.  
  
"That's me done" Laura said half an hour later,  
  
"So what do you want to be?" Sirius asked her,  
  
"A unicorn" Laura said simply  
  
"You'd suit that, unicorns are beautiful creatures, just like your self" Sirius said kissing her again.  
"I want to be a Palomino Horse" Lily sad, putting down her quill, Lou did the same, but Lou started to pack her stuff away,  
  
"Great choice" James said, kissing her as well. Lou, who had finished didn't say what she wanted to be, "What do you want to be, Lou" Remus asked her. [I]He hadn't spoken to her directly since the accident in the Hospital wing[/I] James thought.  
  
"Oh, nothing special, just a black cat" Lou said simply, Remus looked at her,  
  
"Yeah, I could see you being that" He told her and she laughed. After dinnertime, the group were back in the common room, minus Peter, because he stayed with his girlfriend.  
  
"You know, I think I might give it a try," Laura said offhand,  
  
"Give what a try?" Sirius asked her  
  
"Becoming a Unicorn. I mean, imagine it, it would be so cool" Laura said dreamily  
  
"Yeah, and It would be a challenge" Lou said  
  
"Yeah, and it would also be illegal" Lily said sternly  
  
"Yeah, but that's what makes it so good, it's a challenge with all to risk" Laura told her  
  
"Come on Lily, we do things together, we always have" Laura said  
  
"Well this is one thing you can do without me," Lily said, standing her ground  
  
"Lily! You love challenges, come on, it will be fun, I mean imagine it, you could go wherever you wanted, and know one but us lot would know who you were" Lily begged.  
"Well I guess, it would be cool" Lily said  
  
"Remember back when we were eleven, and you told us that what ever big thing we were ever going to do, we were going to do it together, no matter what" Laura told her, "I mean, you don't want to back out of your promise now, do you?" Laura added, Lou smiled,  
  
"Okay, Okay, you got me, fine, I'll do it" Lily said. The girls grinned, and hugged each other.  
  
"What do you guys think?" Laura asked the guys,  
  
"I think its cool" James said, thinking they could go out with them on the full moon. The others nodded,  
  
"Great idea" Sirius said,  
  
"Cool" Remus said. The boys spent the rest of the weekend helping and deciding whether to tell the girls they were Animagus. They finally decided not to, well, not unless they asked them directly. The thing good thing about the girls studying to become Animagus is that they got more time to pull pranks on Slytherin's, and explore Hogwarts a bit more. James was walking back from the Quidditch pitch where he liked to mull things over in his head, "Bloody things, why cant they keep their magical objects to themselves" James herd Filth the caretaker say. James pressed his ear against the door of Filtch's office and listened, there was a gap in the keyhole and James peered through, he saw Filtch wrap up two objects, one that he was wrapping was a mirror, a delicate, beautiful, small mirror. James didn't know what magical powers it held, but what ever they were, they would be great, for Filtch was a Squib, and he hated the students and magic. Pulling out his wand, James made a bucket and mop fall over about three meters away, causing the contents to fall, spill and to make a huge noise, "Ahhh" Came Filtch's voice from inside his office, James stood back, then when Filtch was busy cleaning up the mess, James snuck into his office, grabbed the mirrors and legged it up the stairs and into the Gryffindor Common room. Laura, Lily and Lou were at their usual place, studying to become Animagus', James gave Lily a quick kiss and went up to his room, wanting to find out what the mirrors could do. James sat on his bed, and pulled out his wand. He tapped the mirrors (After he had unwrapped them) with his wand, nothing happened. James sat there, saying various spells, looking all over the mirror for clues, but the only one was: ' Made by, Graham and Andrew, founders of, 'Best, Pals', even this wasn't really a clue, but James had the feeling that it was to be used between best friends, "There you are mate, Lily told me you were up here" Sirius said, walking into the room," What you doing?" He asked, eyeing the mirrors on his bed,  
  
"I'm trying to figure out how these work" James told him, then he went into the story of how he found and got them, Sirius picked one up, and walked around the room, this was his way of thinking, walking around a room. "So, what do you think it does?" Sirius asked, James was just about to answer his question, when something on the bed, more specifically, on his mirror got a hold of his attention, in the mirror had just appeared Sirius's face, and instead of just hearing Sirius's voice from where he was standing, he herd it from the mirror, "Erm, well, go outside, look at the mirror and I'll tell you!" James directed, Sirius looked at him strangely, and opened his mouth, but James said, "Just do it" Sirius obeyed. "I'm outside, Prongs" Sirius said, but this time, he could only hear, and see Sirius, through the mirror,  
  
"I know, look at the mirror" James said to his mirror,  
  
"Whoa, awesome" Sirius said again through the mirror. Sirius came back through and was looking gob-smacked, "That mirror is so cool" Sirius said, James agreed.  
  
"You know, I think its trying to tell us something" Sirius told James, James looked puzzled, "What?" He asked,  
  
"Have you never noticed that it's our middle names that are on the back of this mirror, Graham and Andrew?" Sirius asked him, James turned his mirror over and observed, so it was, for his name was, James Andrew Potter, and Sirius's was Sirius Graham Black. "That's freaky" James said, looking closer, "Made by Best Palls" James said quietly. The rest of the week, the Marauders, minus Peter quite a few times, were always pulling pranks, yeah, James missed Lily, but now she was his girlfriend, it seemed he didn't care about being with her as much, especially not when they were pulling pranks on the Slytherin's, for he knew for a fact, Lily wouldn't approve of this. Laura might have, but he doubted weather Lou would. So in the long run, he was happy they were trying to become Animagi. 


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter twelve: Beating the Snakes

On Saturday morning, James was woken by Peter, "Come on James, it's the Quidditch match today" he told him, James got up, and went down to breakfast, the Gryffindor team, who all went down together, were greeted by applause, and the Slytherin's. Unfortunately, they to were greeted by applause. James smirked at his applause, and played up to the audience, making them all laugh, smile and clap even more. Sirius also did the same, and James, saw out of the corner of his eye, Professor Midgeal laughing at the staff table. James just figured out something, after looking at Professor Midgeal, "Why have we got all the head teachers, you know, we have the head of Drama, and stuff?" James asked the group.  
  
"Because all of them were in Gryffindor, the Ravenclaw's have some of the depute heads, and the Hufflepuff's and Slytherin's have the, well, the next inline." Laura told him  
  
"Oh, okay" James said. By eleven o'clock that day, the whole school was out in the stands, and the Gryffindor team were ready for action, in their robes and listening to their captain (Sirius). "Now, were better, and we know it, and there's only one thing in this whole world that is going to make me play crap" Sirius said,  
  
"What's that?" Lily asked him  
  
"I'll play crap if I don't get a good luck kiss from Laura" Sirius said winking at her, "No, but seriously, just play average, and we will have won in five minuets," Sirius said, "Now where's my kiss?" He asked Laura, who kissed him sweetly on the lips, before mounting her broomstick and flying on to the pitch. They were all called to the pitch, after a few laps of honour, which they were applauded for, especially by Professor Midgeal, "Now, where's the Chasers?" She asked. The three girls put their hands up, "Excellent, work together, and play hard" She said to them, "Beaters?" She asked, Remus and Peter raised there hands, "Great, now, keep the Bludger's away from them, and hit them like your life depends on it" She told them, "Keeper?" She asked, Sirius raised his hand, "Good, don't let anything past you, do your best. Now, James, you would be seeker?" She asked James, he nodded, "Good, get the snitch and be as fast as you can" She told him, "Now, everyone, have fun, cream Slythrin and do your best." She told them all encouragingly. They all got into position and waited for Professor Midgeal's whistle. Off it went. James pushed off as hard as he could on his Silver Arrow900, James felt the air sweep across his face, he let out his feelings before actually looking for the snitch, and James saw it. It was half way across the pitch, straight in line with him. Malfoy was some ten feet below it, he couldn't see it, so James decided to let it go. If it went near him, he would catch it, its not like Malfoy could James thought. Ten minuets later, James swooped up to where Sirius was; he just rested his broom in mid air, and casually asked Sirius, "Are you bored yet?" Sirius grinned,  
  
"A bit, yeah" Sirius said  
  
"Okay" James said, before streaking he length of the pitch, feeling the wind in his hair, feeling the great emotion that was freedom, before grapping onto a little golden ball, that flapped hopelessly against his fingers. The crowds erupted with applause, and Malfoy erupted with anger,  
  
"Shows who the better one is, doesn't it, Malfoy" James said, pulling his broom effortlessly next to Malfoy, and smirking.  
  
"I'll get you Potter, I'll get you one day" Malfoy said evilly,  
  
"Yeah, I'm sure you will, and by that time. I'll already be old and dead, and you'll be attacking my coffin" James said laughing. He flashed the snitch one more time in his face, before flying back to the ground. The applause was nothing James was not used to, he lapped up the praise, Lily kisses, the anger from the Slytherin's, saying they were going to kill him, to which he replied, "I'll be waiting" Sirius was getting pretty much the same amount of attention, and so were Remus and Peter. Lily, Laura and Lou were getting tons of attention from the boys, and the Marauders were getting tons of attention from the girls. James turned most of the complements down when the girls said them, all apart from Lily, but Sirius didn't, he had girls kissing him on the cheek, left right and centre, Laura didn't look to happy about this, especially not when Sirius gave one girl a hug and a kiss. Laura then took it in her own stride, all James saw was her going up to a guy who had been praising her, and hug him, right in front of Sirius, Sirius didn't seem to notice much, until she kissed him on the lips. Laura then gave Sirius a dirty look, and dragged Lily and Lou back up to the castle. Sirius was complaining about this all the way back up to the castle to James, Remus and Peter, they all took it in, normally Sirius wouldn't care, but he had told them enough times, "That there was something different about Laura"  
  
"Well, you did do the same to her" Remus pointed out when they got to the Gryffindor entrance,  
  
"I only kissed the girl on the cheek, she kissed him on the lips, big difference" Sirius said.  
  
"I think she only did it to make you jealous, or at least because you did it first" Remus told him, entering the Gryffindor common room,  
  
"Well, at least one of you understands girls" Laura said, she was sitting with Lily and Lou, not a piece of parchment in sight. So obviously, to James they were talking about the earlier event, "Oh, Peter, Remus, I need you to look at err, something in our room" James said, he realised what a lame saying that was after he said it, but it worked. James, Peter and Remus went upstairs and grabbed the invisibility cloak. Lou and Lily had also gone up to their room,  
  
"You're the one who thinks your all it," Laura was saying loudly to Sirius  
  
"I am not, I am just trying to give the people what they want" Sirius said  
  
"Oh, look, there you go again, give the people what they want? How do you know they want you? You know your problem, your problem is that you don't care about anyone else, all you care about is being popular with all the girls, even though you had a girlfriend" Laura said, James noticed that she had said 'had' and that her face was screwed up in pain, she looked although she didn't want to break up with him, but he also thought that she felt she had to,  
  
"My problem is that I spent to much time with you" Sirius shouted at her. "There are tons of girls out there who would give their life to be my girlfriend." Sirius said again,  
  
"There you go again. Mr popularity. Mr I'm better than everyone else, and you know what, I don't care, go ahead, go get your tons of girls, then go cheat on them, and watch how they'll come crawling back to you like slugs, like it was them who did something wrong, not you, see if I give a damn, Black" Laura said, she then strode over to the girls stairs, flicked her beautiful hair, and walked up the stairs and out of sight.  
  
"Who needs her?" Sirius asked himself  
  
"Well, just a rough guess, but I'd say. You do" Peter said, emerging from the cloak.  
  
"I don't," Sirius, said, not paying any attention to Peter's sudden appearance, "She can do as she pleases. Anyway, there's this really hot chick in Ravenclaw, who has the nicest body you will ever see" Sirius said, just as the words were right out of his mouth, Laura chose the precise moment to come back down the stairs,  
  
"Your so typical Black, the minuet you get rid of one, 'chick' your on the look out for another one" Laura said spitefully,  
  
"What do you want?" Sirius asked her coldly  
"Well, I was. High light. Was. Going to apologise for me being so stupid, but now. Now I think I'm going to go get Lou, and were going to go out and find two capable boyfriends, ones that don't cheat on us" Laura said flashing them her pretty, but this time, sarcastic smile. Laura went back up the stairs again, the boys began to talk, but they shut up, ten minuets later, when Lou and Laura came back down the stairs. Laura was dressed up slightly again, she had her kitten heals back on, but this time they were black, she had a pair of black, elegant, slightly flared jeans on. She had a V-neck top on, her make up was subtle, but noticeable, she had glitter all down the V part of her V-neck top, bringing James to look there automatically. She had a blue shade of eye shadow, to match her blue V-neck top and a light pink lip-gloss. Lou also had changed, she was wearing a light pink crop top, and she had the kitten heels on, this time white, with a pair of while jeans. Lou's make up was sparkly as well, she had a pink sparkly lip gloss on, not glitter on any of her body but she had a metallic eye shadow on, that bought out the blue in her eyes. Lou had the purple denim jacket that Lily had been wearing on, and Laura also had the light pink denim jacket that Lou was wearing the other week. All in all, both Laura and Lou looked beautiful, both of the girls had seemed to notice the attention they were getting, but they ignored it. Laura ignored them completely, and made her way, elegantly flipping her hair, to the exit of the common room, while Lou, shot all four of the boys a look of total loathing, clearly making them feel as though she was more than unhappy about there way's of treating her best friend.  
  
"God she looked hot," Sirius said out loud once Lou and Laura had left the common room, James nodded in agreement, so did Peter and Remus.  
  
"They both did" Peter said, once again, James, Remus and Sirius nodded in agreement. The conversation topic then went on to girls, and since James had a girlfriend, he thought it would be best if he went and talked to her. James knew about the spell on the stairs, the one that didn't let boys on the staircase, so he just did the counter spell, and went up. Lily was in her room reading a book, "Hi Lily" James said, almost shyly, she looked up,  
  
"Hi" she said, [I] okay, she's giving me the cold shoulder [/I] James thought to himself. "How are you?" He asked her  
  
"Fine" She replied, not looking up from her book. James asked her more and more questions, and each time he got a better answer, so after he had been up with her for an hour and a half, she was talking to him like normal. James went back down later on, saying he would leave her to her homework; he kissed her good bye, and just as both of them intensified the kiss, Laura and Lou walked in, James and Lily sprung apart, he gave her a kiss on the cheek and mumbled good bye, before smiling nicely at Lou and Laura, (Lou glared back at him,) and exiting. Peter wasn't down stairs when he got into the common room, but Sirius and Remus were still there, James didn't bother asking where Peter was, he knew he was with Penny,  
  
"She has got quite a set of daggers on her, doesn't she?" Remus asked as James sat down,  
  
"Who?" James asked  
  
"Lou, she can give a death stare like there's no tomorrow," Remus told him,  
  
"Yeah, I know, I just got a full blast of it, up there" James said.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter thirteen: Is How Not Your Face, But Your Hearts Desire  
  
Ever since Laura and Sirius's argument, the gang had split up, well, sort of. Lily stayed with James some of the time, but most of the time she was with Laura and Lou. Laura stayed away from the Marauders all together. Lou only spoke occasionally, and then it was only to Remus, and sometimes Peter. She seemed to think that since they hadn't had as many girlfriends, and that after they broke up with someone, they didn't only wait five minuets before getting a new girlfriend, they were better people. James and Sirius started to roam the school even more; Sirius seemed to want to keep his mind off of Laura, he was going out with a girl called Lexi, he seemed to like her, but James saw the way he looked at Laura. It was look of longing. Sirius and James were today roaming around on the top floors, half trying to get caught, half trying not to, "Can we go cause some havoc with Filtch, we haven't run into him for about a week, he must think something is wrong with us" Sirius asked James,  
  
"Yeah, come on, he's in the trophy room" James told him, looking at the map. They headed to the trophy room, and sure enough there was Filtch, he had his cat, Smokey with him. Sirius had always felt sorry for Smokey, having to have Filtch as a master, "Locomorter books" Sirius said loudly, so even Filtch could hear him, but Filtch was too busy cleaning up to notice who did him, "I'll get them, in a few years I'll get them all!" Filtch was muttering. Sirius who was now on the floor trying to, discreetly, coax the cat to him, "Here Smokey, who's a good girl, come here girl" Sirius was saying.  
  
"Sirius, put the cat down" James demanded, as Sirius picked up the smoky grey cat This is Smokey [/URL]). But Sirius didn't listen, looking towards Filtch, Sirius then fled out of the room, out from their hiding place, right back up to Gryffindor Common room, which was empty, because of lunch.  
  
"What in Merlin's name are you doing?" James asked Sirius when they noticed no one was in the common room.  
  
"Look! This cat needs love and attention. Look, she likes me!" Sirius told him. Indeed, James could not lie and say he hadn't heard the loud purring coming from the cat.  
  
"Well, what are you going to do with her?" James asked, assuming the cat was a girl,  
  
"I'm going to keep her in our dorm, until we go back home, then take her home. No, wait, I'll just keep her here on second thoughts" Sirius said. James guessed he just thought of his parent's attitude to animals, and to him.  
  
"Well. What if you get caught by Filtch?" James asked him again,  
  
"I wont" Sirius said in a casual tone,  
  
"Okay" James said. Five minuets later, Lou came in the common room, muttering about finding her cloak. She caught sight of James, then Sirius, she glared at them, and then she saw the cat, "Oh, where'd you get her? She's gorgeous" Lou exclaimed, walking over to get a better look.  
  
"Hey, isn't that Filtch's poor cat?" She asked them. They nodded, "Nice one!" She said, before going up and getting her jacket. When she came back down again, she was, as usual, carrying three denim jackets. She shot a look of longing over that the cat-which was playing with the tassels on the rug- before exiting the common room,  
  
"Well, I think she's back on our side" James said,  
  
"Yeah. Now all we need is Laura" Sirius said moodily. James half pitied his friend, he knew it was Sirius's own fault, but he also knew that Laura should at least be talking to him, letting him explain. I suppose she thought there was noting to explain, he kissed another girl; I suppose that was all there was to it.  
  
"Well, we've got Lily, and now we've got Lou, so I think Laura will put it behind her too" James told Sirius, who was still playing with the cat, and a piece of string that Sirius had conjured up.  
  
"Your wrong, Prongs. Lou only likes us because of the cat, you saw the look she gave us before seeing the cat, then after that, she seemed to be back to her happiness and light act"  
  
"Yeah, that's a great way to get me back into your life, Black. Criticise my mates." Laura said. It seemed that Lou had not only gone up to get the jackets, she had gone up to see Laura as well,  
  
"Oh, give over Laura, you know I want you back" Sirius said  
  
"Oh I know that, I know that fine well. But you see your problem, is that you had to go and find something wrong with all my mates: Lily, Lou, who's next? Penny?" Laura said spitefully, "Smooth move, Black" She said before exiting out of the common room.  
  
"Hmm, your right, she might need a bit of work" James said casually.  
  
"Yeah, shame the cat didn't work on her as well as it did on Lou" James said. Sirius and James were shortly joined by: Remus, Peter, Lily, Lou, (grudgingly) and to Sirius's delight, Laura. Lou didn't say a word to anyone, for she was playing with the cat, and Laura was researching up on Animagus. Sirius, Remus, James and Peter all turned in early, for they had run clean out of conversation topics. James lay awake in bed, not being able to get to sleep, he desperately needed Laura and Sirius to get back together, or his chances with Lily could be ruined. Listening to the sounds of Peter snoring, he decided to get up and get a drink of water. He put on his glasses and got his water, he leaned against the wall. That's when he heard people talking, finishing his water; he put his cup down, and peeked down to see who it was. It was Laura she was talking to the cat, which Sirius had left down stairs.  
  
"What's up?" James asked her casually, coming down the stairs. Laura, as if she was expecting this too happen just said, as casually as James, "Nothing. Go back to bed, James". But James didn't, he went down the stairs and sat down next to Laura, none of them spoke, so James decided to say something, "Sirius really is sorry, he just lost his head, that's all. He does really care about you" James said without thinking properly. Laura scoffed,  
  
"If he cared about me, then why's he off kissing other girls?" Laura asked,  
  
"Because. Well, because he didn't know at the time how much he cared about you, not until it hit him you weren't his girlfriend anymore." James said, this he knew was true, Sirius had told him this many times before. Laura bit her lip,  
  
"I'm not easy, you know. I'm not!" Laura stated, James looked at her weirdly,  
  
"I never said you were," He told her,  
  
"Good, tell Sirius that then" Laura said, "Night James" She said, going up the stairs to her room again. James sat there for a while, pondering his thoughts, then he went back up to bed, and this time he slept.  
  
James's plan the next day was to get Laura and Sirius back together, if it was the last thing he did this summer. He had a feeling that he wouldn't be kissing Lily for much longer if Laura and Sirius didn't make up soon.  
  
"She thinks you think she's easy," James told Sirius over lunch,  
  
"No I don't" Sirius snapped back,  
  
"Hey, I never said I thought you thought she was," James snapped back  
  
"But you must admit, you did seem to think she was a bi-" Sirius cut into Peter's sentence with a deadly glare that silenced Peter  
  
"But Sirius did say at the start of the summer term, or whatever this thing is. That he said he didn't want to ask her out just because she was hot" Remus said, sticking up for Sirius, "You were talking about her, weren't you?" He asked. Sirius laughed slightly,  
  
"Yeah, I was" He told them,  
  
"Well, I think your best bet is to tell her that, and talk to her properly. Then, we can go and cause havoc on the castle" James said, grinning at his best friends,  
  
"Sounds great, about the castle. But about Laura, she won't even stay in the same room as me, let alone talk to me" Sirius said sulkily. James was happy that Sirius agreed to come along tonight, there was a secret passage he had found, but he didn't have time to look down it, as he was in a hurry.  
  
"We'll set something up for you Sirius. Just make sure you're on the Quidditch pitch at seven tonight, okay?" Remus asked him, Sirius nodded,  
  
"Good, very good" Peter said smiling. James spent a lot of the day, chasing Laura around, trying to get her to go to the Quidditch pitch that night, she finally gave in just after lessons ended. Well, Drama. At seven o'clock that night, Sirius had put on some smart, but yet again, casual clothes on. He was heading out the common room, "Good luck mate" Remus told him, "Not that you'll need it," He added winking. By nine o'clock, Peter, James and Remus were starting to think something bad had happened to Sirius, "Maybe she jinxed him!" Peter said in a worried voice.  
  
"I don't think so somehow. Laura's smart, but so is Padfoot" Remus pointed out,  
  
"Yeah, your right" Peter said going red. No sooner had Peter started to blush did the common room door open and Sirius and Laura walked in, not hand in hand, nor Sirius's arm round her, but just as friends. They were both talking to each other, talking in a way that said, "I don't hate you."  
  
James, Peter and Remus let out a sigh of relief, they hadn't fallen out, nor had they killed each other, [I] Great [/I] James thought, [I] now there back on speaking terms. That means nothing is going to stop me and Lily being together. Unless. Unless Lou still won't talk to us [/I] James thought. Thinking of the Devil, Lou and Lily came bouncing down the stairs, to meet Laura, "We thought we heard you" Laura said happily. Lou still hadn't seemed to loose her moody look, though she looked slightly happier. She smiled weekly at James, Peter and Remus, they smiled back, but Lou walked over to Laura, "Come on, you have loads to tell us" Lily said, grabbing Laura's hand and pulling her up the stairs, she laughed, "See you later Sirius, Peter, James, Remus and Peter" Laura called out to them,  
  
"Hey, Lou. You coming?" Lily called down the stairs. Lou looked at the Marauders, then called up to Lily,  
  
"Yeah" and went up to join her friends, they all herd the door shut with a 'snap',  
  
"So, what happened" James asked Sirius the second the door was shut.  
  
"Lets discuss it over some late dinner, then some walking" Sirius said, grinning. Half an hour later, James, Sirius, Peter and Remus were in the kitchen.  
  
"Go on then, spill" Remus said sitting down,  
  
"I apologised to her. We made up, and she told me how she felt about the whole thing, then about me." Sirius grinned at that thought, "Then she told me that she needs to figure out a few things before she decided weather to get back with me" Sirius rounded off.  
  
"So, did she say what she needed to sort out?" Peter asked, Sirius shook his head,  
  
"All she said is she needed to sort out her past. Then when I asked what she meant, she said she would tell me when she felt like it. Then she started to talk about Quidditch, so I didn't bother asking her again" Sirius said. They stayed in the kitchen until ten o'clock. At that time they decided to go out and explore the passageway James had found earlier on. The passage was behind a huge statue of an old man, but unfortunately, before they could open the door. Filtch came up the passage,  
  
"I'm going to kill you little rats, wait till I get my hands on you, your going to wish you never crossed the path of Argus Filtch" He roared,  
  
"We already do" Sirius roared back in the direction, legging it to another room. Remus and Peter went another way, while James and Sirius stayed near the passageway. When they were sure Filtch had gone after Remus and Peter, Sirius and James emerged from the room they were hiding in. They tapped their wands against the statue, and it opened. Wanting to wait for Remus and Peter, James changed his mind and entered the passageway, after his curiosity got the better of him. The passage was long and dark, except for the end, were they could see light illuminating from the door. James and Sirius exchanged confused looks, the passage hadn't looked like this last time James saw it, but last time he saw it, it was in daylight. They both raised their wands, but continued to walk down the dark passageway. At the end of the passage, the light from the room was severely damaging their vision. Sirius and James entered the room, immediately the light faded away, revealing a grand and beautiful room. The carpet was gold and the walls made of silk, James had come across a lot of nice rooms in Hogwarts, but never one as nice as this. Right in the middle of the room, on a separate rug, was a mirror. This mirror looked different though, as James and Sirius both found out. Sirius was the first to notice it, and indeed the first to look into it, "Hey. Hey Prongs, come look at this. Oh this is sweet. I'm leaving! I'm leaving home, this mirror shows me leaving Grimwald place and leaving my family!" Sirius said very excitedly to James, James looked confused,  
  
"What are you on about?"  
  
"Look. Come stand next to me," Sirius told him, James did so,  
  
"And I'm looking at what?" James asked, staring into his reflection,  
  
"Can't you see it? Its so awesome, its me, and I'm leaving home, and, and, and I'm not going back" Sirius repeated. James looked at Sirius like he had just lost any last bit of sanity he had left.  
  
"Stand back, and then I might be able to see properly" James told Sirius, Sirius backed away, trying to still see his wonderful image. James now stood in front of the mirror and he gasped at what he saw. Expecting to see his reflection, he didn't. Instead he saw himself surrounded by, Sirius, Remus and Peter, they were all laughing and joking, but there was a clock in the mirror, and it showed time going by very fast, by the time James had looked back into the main picture, the Marauders had all aged slightly, [I] This must be our future or something [/I] James thought.  
  
"What do you think it is?" Sirius asked him, now tapping the mirror,  
  
"I'm guessing that it's a fortune telling mirror. You know, the ones Professor Timot is always going on about," James said. Sirius and James stayed looking at their 'reflections' for a while, until they started to feel sleepy, "Come on Prongs, lets get back. The cost is clear" Sirius told James looking at the map. James tore himself away from the mirror and made his way back to the Gryffindor common room, "Don't tell Wormtail and Moony, Prongs" Sirius told James. James just nodded; He didn't know why he didn't want them to know, he just didn't.  
  
"What happened to you guys?" Peter asked when they got in the common room,  
  
"Nothing, we just went to look down the passage, there was nothing there," Sirius said, James nodded. James noticed they were the only ones in the common room,  
  
"I'm going to bed," James stated.  
  
"Mr Potter, you will be playing the Trumpet" It was Wednesday, and Professor Flitz had just announced what instrument they would be playing in the recital. James grinned, the trumpet. That was the instrument Laura said was hardest to play.  
  
"Miss Stevenson, the flute, Mr Lupin, guitar, Mr Black, the Drums, Miss Evans, the clarinet, Miss Hammond, the bass, and Mr Petigrew, the keyboard. Now, off to your instruments" Professor Flitz told them all,  
  
"The bass?" Laura asked Sirius, "Wanna swap?" She asked him again, Sirius just laughed,  
  
"Nah, your alright Laura." James decided to work next to Lily, who was working next to Lou and Remus, while Laura, Sirius and Peter were at the other side of the room,  
  
"Lily?" Lou asked,  
  
"Yeah?" Lily replied, doing the scale of E  
  
"You know Lord Voldermort, the killer I was telling you about?" Lou asked her, Lily did an off scale note in shock,  
  
"Err, yeah, what about him?" She asked, a note of panic in her voice  
  
"Well, he's recruited a few of the Slytherin's," Lou told Lily, James looked shocked,  
  
"How do you know this?" James asked her? Lou shot the same look at James as she always did, "It was in the Daily Prophet, something about many of the Hogwarts students have been put under the Imperius curse, and come back with a mark on their arm" Lou said, her voice still slightly icy. James nodded. They spoke about this until Professor Flitz would have no more talking, and they were forced to put on their earphones and play. Through the sound of the trumpet, James still herd the words of Lou rushing through his head, [I]"He's recruited a few of the Slytherin's", [/I] is all he could think off.  
  
"We have to go into the forest, that will be the only place where he will be," Peter told them over dinner, after he had been filled in with the details. They all nodded,  
  
Two hours later, James, Lily, Sirius, Laura, Remus, Lou and Peter were all heading into the forest. "I'm scared" Laura said, Sirius put his arm round her,  
  
"Better?" He asked, she giggled,  
  
"Yeah" She whispered. Lily then held on for her life to James's hand, Lou held on to Remus robes and Peter said,  
  
"Oh great, me the odd one out" making them all laugh.  
  
"Where would he be?" Laura asked in a whisper, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter all shook their heads,  
  
"Don't know" Sirius said. Half an hour later, they all had sore feet, and hadn't found one lead on Voldermort,  
  
"This is hopeless," Peter said, James nodded in agreement.  
  
"Come on, lets go back" Sirius said, they all turned and followed Sirius's lead. They were almost out of the forest until they herd a voice, "There out here somewhere"; it was the raspy voice of Argus Filtch. The girls all gasped. Filtch got closer, and closer, and none of them could risk moving away because of the sound it would make. Filch then turned and Peter let out a sigh and ran, the girls were right behind him, Remus leapt behind a tree, noticing that the girls, and Peter had ran away. Just when Filtch herd the noise, James was about to hide. Filtch turned round, and placed a bony hand on Sirius and James's shoulders, "Well, well, well, what do we have here? Out in the Forbidden forest, after hours. Tell me boys, do you know what Forbidden means?" Filtch asked them in his greasy manner, James was about to answer and tell Filch that he knew perfectly well what it meant, but Filtch spoke first, "It means, boys, that your not aloud in there, ever. And you know what else it means? It means you'll be using those seats in Detention again," Filtch said,  
  
"It also means you're a slimy git" Sirius said shaking Filtch's hand of his shoulder.  
  
"You better watch it Black, or I'll have more than detention in store for you" He said menacingly,  
  
"Oh, so Dumbledore's finally let you use the chains against us? I really don't think so," James said smugly,  
  
"Watch your lip, and your step, the both of you" Filch said, pushing them both forward,  
  
"You know, I really wouldn't do that if I were you, because I don't think Dumbledore would be very happy to know that his caretaker was threatening his students" Sirius said, before him and James started making their way up to the castle. The way back to the castle was all about Filtch, not so much the detention, but what he was doing out in the Forest at that time of night, "I mean, no one could of given him a lead on us, not this time anyway" James told Sirius, they both agreed. When they were back in the common room, James expected to see Remus, Lily, Lou, Peter and Laura, but they weren't there yet. James and Sirius waited only about a minuet before all five of them came panting into the Common room, "He is a sad, sad man" Lily said, sitting next to James and leaning her head on his shoulder,  
  
"Very, very sad!" Laura exclaimed sitting next to Sirius and copping Lily's movements. Remus nodded and sat down on the other couch, Lou sighed,  
  
"I can't believe him, I mean. What in the hell was he doing out there anyways?" She asked, but her expression changed when she saw the cat, making her sit down next to it.  
  
"He has a serious problem. He's probably missing Smokey" Peter said, sitting on the chair, and gazing at the cat.  
  
"So when's your detention?" Laura asked Sirius and James,  
  
"How'd you know we had one?" James asked her,  
  
"We listened behind the tree" Remus exclaimed,  
  
"Yeah, I hid behind a tree as well, and I'm sorry about making a noise, and legging it, or you wouldn't of got caught" Peter said, looking guiltily at the ground,  
  
"No problem mate, and we don't know, sometime in the week I'm guessing" Sirius said.  
  
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to bed, I'm knackered" Lily said, she kissed James goodnight, and went up the girls stairs. Laura did the same and followed Lily,  
  
"Night guys," she said, "You coming, Lou?"  
  
"Two seconds" Lou called up to her, "Look, James, Sirius, and you too, I'm sorry, I shouldn't of acted like that towards you. I just don't like seeing Laura hurt, and well. Like I said, I'm sorry," Lou said, looking at the ground. James smiled at her,  
  
"Its cool. You have a right to be like that, she's your friend, its cool, are we cool?" James asked her, Lou smiled,  
  
"Yeah, were cool, Potter" Lou said before going up the stairs herself, "Night guys" She called over her shoulder.  
  
"You know. I never am going to understand her. I mean, its hard enough that she's a girl, and girls are like, impossible to understand, but to throw in that she an actress, and a mysterious one at that, well that's just sad on us" Peter said, the guys all collapsed laughing,  
  
"Yeah, she is a bit different, isn't she?" Remus said, looking up the stairs  
  
"I think someone has a crush," Sirius said slapping his friend on the back,  
  
"Haha, I don't think so," Remus said, "Now, in the words of the girls 'night guys'" and he headed up the boys stairs.  
  
"Haha, I don't think so," Remus said, "Now, in the words of the girls 'night guys'" and he headed up the boys stairs.  
  
The next morning the exam dates were set,  
  
"Now, you will be taking your exam on the last week of term, the dates being the twentieth to the twenty seventh of August, and on the last day, there will be a Hogsmeade visit, to let you relax for the celebration of the end of the summer exams" Professor Macgonnagal was saying in Transfiguration. Ever since last week, all the classes had been split up in to the proper year groups, so that they all had separate work to do for the upcoming of their exams. Lily, Lou and Laura were starting to panic about the exams, so were Peter and Remus. James and Sirius, on the other hand, just told them they would do what they did every year, study each subject the night before. Lily had given up trying to get James to work, even kissing him each sentence he wrote didn't have that much effect, because Lily found out that James had a book on Quidditch inside his Charms book. On Friday a tapping at the window interrupted the boys, who had finally been persuaded to study. Lily jumped up and grabbed the window handle, wrenched it open, and let the owl fly in,  
  
"James, Sirius, its your detention dates" She read off,  
  
"When?" James asked her,  
  
"Each night at eight, starting tonight, then tomorrow, and the next day, you finish on Sunday" Lily read,  
  
"Where are we going? Does it say?" Sirius asked her,  
  
"Nope. It only says to meet Filtch at his office, at eight" Lily said,  
  
"Well you're going to have fun, three nights in a row with Filtch, that's hell for you!" Laura said to the boys. Sirius moaned and Laura laughed at him. As eight o'clock drew nearer, James was dreading it more and more. Even encouraging words from Lily were no help to him. For James knew what Filtch's detentions were like, he knew he would be up until about two o'clock in the morning, cleaning some really dirty jars or something, he just knew it. At five to eight, Sirius and James were making their way down to Filches office, both still complaining about what they would be doing. "Here, take it, if we get split, and we will, knowing Filtch, then I can still talk to you" James said handing Sirius one of the little mirrors that he had found, "But don't let Filtch see" James told him, Sirius grinned,  
  
"You're a great mate, Prongs" Sirius told him, taking the mirror of off him, James just laughed,  
  
"I'd saviour those laughs if I were you" The raspy voice of Filtch said just in front of them, "I see your both late, and neither of you have seem too of given this detention a thought" He continued,  
  
"Yes sir, were fashionably late, and no, we've had to many detentions to care about them" Sirius said leaning elegantly on the statue.  
  
"Your cheek won't get you far tonight, your being split up" Filtch said,  
  
"What a surprise" James muttered,  
  
"You." He said pointing at James, "Will be cleaning out the dungeons, and you," he said now pointing at Sirius, "Will be cleaning out the Hospital wing, it seems it isn't as healthy as it should be" Filtch said with a menacing smile,  
  
"Now of you go. Madam Levinatra will be watching over you, Black. And I, will be keeping a close eye on you, Potter" Filch said. The boys walked away in opposite directions. James was muttering into his mirror discreetly, so Filtch wouldn't notice.  
  
James was lead to the Dungeons, where he was dusting everything from the jars, to the cupboards. James was still talking to Sirius in the mirror, though he had to be careful, as Filtch was watching him closely. James was finally aloud to go back to the Gryffindor Common room at one thirty a.m. He was absolutely knackered. James sat on the couch, and the next thing he knew, something, or someone was kissing him on the lips, "Wake up sleepy head, we have class in ten minuets" Lily was saying softly. James lifted his head, and surveyed his surroundings. He was in the Common room, still. "Did I fall asleep here?" James asked, someone giggled, James looked around and saw Laura giggling and Lou fighting off a smile, "Yeah, you did" Lily said, kissing him again and pulling him to his feet.  
  
By Sunday night James and Sirius were both shattered, they had also missed half of their morning classes on the Monday, through lack of sleep. Somehow, James and Sirius managed to get through the whole day without falling asleep, much to the help of the girls. Lily was very skilled at charms, Lou at Potions and Laura at Transfiguration. Lily had put a few cheering charms on the boys because they kept snapping at everyone because they were so tired. Lou made them some potions to stop the sleepiness, and Laura got them out of trouble when they fell asleep in Transfiguration, by transforming their closed, sleeping eyelids into unsleeping eyelids. At ten o'clock that night, Lily and James were sitting on one of the chairs kissing every two seconds, Laura and Sirius were snuggled up together on the couch and Lou and Remus were strangely closer together than normal, Peter was with his girlfriend, again.  
  
"So, I take it you've made up then?" Remus asked Laura and Sirius, Laura kissed Sirius's cheek and nodded. Lou and Lily smiled at the news. Half an hour later they were still in the same position, but Lou was now reading a book on magical artefacts, and the rest of the gang were talking about Quidditch.  
  
"Don't you guys wish we had an Latin mirror?" Lou said looking up from the book, Sirius looked at her,  
  
"Well, I'm sure I'd love a Latin mirror," Sirius said, "What is it?" He asked her. Lou laughed, and Laura said,  
  
"It's a mirror that is said to show only your true harts desires, there's only about ten of them ever been made, the guy who created them, died, and didn't tell anyone what spell he used,"  
  
"I'd love one, I could find out what I really want in life," Lily said, James and Sirius were looking at them strangely,  
  
"Erm, I think there's one in the castle," James said,  
  
"Yeah, in that corridor that we went down, because when I looked in it, I saw myself leaving home, and James saw himself, well, err, with us," Sirius said,  
  
"Yeah, and a little clock indicating the passing of time" James said smartly. For some strange reason that James did not know, Lou, Lily and Laura all 'awed',  
  
"That's so cute" Lily said, "He's so sensitive" she said again. Remus was now looking at the girls strangely as well,  
  
"What does that mean?" Remus asked them  
  
"It means, that James doesn't ever want to leave his friends, and that the thing he wants most in his whole entire life, is to be with his friends" Laura told him,  
  
"And Sirius wants to leave his family and never look back at them again" Lily said, Sirius nodded,  
  
"Why?" Lou asked. Sirius got up, he looked round the room, ran his hand through his hair, and faced them, "Because their dark, they don't like muggle-borns, or any sort of half breeds. Their horrid, never liked me, always liked my brother. They were so disappointed in me when I was in Gryffindor, not Slythrin" Sirius said, Laura looked up at him, then went and joined him,  
  
"You are so, so sweet" She said, and she kissed him.  
  
"Can you show us the mirror?" Lily asked, James and Sirius nodded  
  
"Tomorrow, I'm way to tired tonight." Sirius said, James yawned,  
  
"Yeah, night Lily" James said kissing her one last time and going to bed, Sirius and Remus in tow.  
  
"Did you just hug her?" Sirius asked when they were all in bed,  
  
"No, I kissed her goodnight" James said, wondering what the heck Sirius was talking about,  
  
"Not you, Prongs, Moony, did you just hug Lou?" Sirius asked again, Remus laughed,  
  
"Yeah, so what?" Remus said  
  
"I told you that you liked her," Sirius said with a trace of triumph in his voice, Remus just laughed,  
  
"Sure Padfoot, if you say so. Night" Remus said, and before long, James too was asleep.  
  
"Err, guys, how do you suppose we get back to that room tonight, I mean, were going to get into big trouble if were even down near that corridor." Lily said, to Remus, James, Sirius and Peter the next night.  
  
"Well, if you look in that book Lou had yesterday, then you'll find that James also has another one of those, 'rare artefacts' and it is upstairs in his trunk," Sirius said, smirking at Lily.  
  
"What do you have, James?" Lily asked looking very interested,  
  
"An invisibility clock" James said offhandedly,  
  
"You have one of those?" Laura asked shocked  
  
"Yeah" James said nodding,  
  
"Cool" The girls exclaimed,  
  
"Has anyone seen Smokey?" Lou asked a few minuets later. As she started searching the empty common room, the whole gang shock their heads, all apart from Peter,  
  
"He's up on my bed" He said, Lou nodded,  
  
"Phew" she said.  
  
An hour later, Lily had charmed the invisibility clock into hiding seven people; they arrived at the passage about five minuets later, "It better still be there," Sirius, said quietly,  
  
"Why wouldn't it?" Lily asked  
  
"Well, you know Hogwarts, everything from the pictures, to the armour seems to move. I have a horrid feeling that the mirror has too," Sirius told her. But Sirius was wrong, when they entered the passage James was greeted with the same illuminating light, and along the passage the grand mirror stood there, gleaming like it did last time.  
  
"Whoa" Lily said, admiring it,  
  
"So, how does it work?" Peter asked,  
  
"You just stand in front of it, by yourself, and look into it, and you'll see what you desire" Laura told him. Peter did as she explained, "Cool" Peter exclaimed, "It doesn't tell the future does it?" Peter asked longingly, Laura shook her head,  
  
"Sorry" She said, Peter stepped away from the mirror, and Remus stood in front of it,  
  
"Well, that was easy to know" Remus said grinning, "Well, at least I know the mirror works" Remus said smiling. Laura then stood in front of the mirror, to James's surprise, she started giggling, and then she stepped away and whispered to Lily and Lou, who also giggled. Lou then stood in front of the mirror. When she walked away she too, was smiling, "You know, it is a shame this mirror doesn't tell the future" Lou said, and she started telling the other girls what she saw. The rest of the gang had seemed to like their visions. That changed though, when Lily stood in front of the mirror, her face instantly fell, and her eyes welled up in tears, she started to cry, and she didn't stop. Lou and Laura dragged her away from the mirror, James noticed that they both had the same knowing look on their faces; James assumed that they both knew what Lily had seen. Lily stopped crying a bit later, and they all made their way back to the common room, Lily looked depressed, Lou had her arm round her shoulder, and Laura had linked arms with her. James had been told by Laura, in a nice way, to keep clear of Lily for the moment. So he did a he was told. 


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter fourteen: Requirement

James was woken up by something that night, checking the magical clock in the dormitory, he saw it was one two thirty eight, am. Deciding he couldn't get back to sleep, he chucked some clothes over his pyjamas and went down stairs, soft voices were coming from the couch,  
  
"See, nothing can keep him away from you" someone said looking straight at him, James heard Lily soft giggle, and he too laughed,  
  
"Nice to see you too, Laura" James replied, he then noticed Lou was on the floor with the cat,

"Hi Lou" She looked up, smiled and replied  
  
"Heya"  
  
"So why aren't you in bed?" James asked the girls,  
  
"We were talking," Lily said, she paused, "About the mirror," Lily said, "Well, really what I saw" Lily said again, James nodded, he went and sat on the chair, "I miss her" Lily announced, James looked at her, and Laura said,  
  
"I know, I know."  
  
"I'm talking about my sister," Lily said to James, "That's what I saw in the mirror. I have a sister at the moment, I did have two, and I saw all three of us playing and laughing, like we used too." Lily said, letting out a little sob. "She was killed by a wand at the beginning of my second year. Petunia, my sister was a witch as well, she showed the power, but never went to Hogwarts, Jasmine and her were twins. They were both due to start Hogwarts at the same time, they were both one year younger than me, but no one ever thought that. Petunia and Jasmine were identical twins, but I looked a lot like them as well, people thought we were triplets. We were so close, ever so close, but a few days before I was about to go into second year, and them into first, we were," Lily stopped, she sobbed again, "We were playing about at the local park, we were playing around with our wands, not that we should have been because we noticed their was a muggle hiding by the swings. He was watching us, then he came up to us, he offered us some chocolate, for a shoot of the wand, the wand Jasmine was holding. So we were wrong about him being a muggle. But anyway, she said no, we knew not to take chocolate from strangers, especially from a wizard, so he asked again, and again, and again. He finally got mad, and we then went to leave, you know, leg it, but something happened, and, and he jumped on Jasmine. He stole her wand, he head it up, I remember it so well, he started laughing, he had a menacing smile on his face, he shouted: [I] You stupid kids, [/I] then Jasmine did something she shouldn't of, she jumped on him, she wanted her wand back, but he did the Avada Kedavra curse. She was dead, all he did is laugh, and walk away, saying that she didn't need the wand where she was." Lily then dissolved into sobs, and the twinkle that stood out so brightly in Laura and Lou's blue eyes, had gone out. "Petunia never knew the wonders of magic, she never went to Hogwarts, said she didn't want to die like her sister, she hates magic. She thinks that it only brings death, and little sparks. Like the ones we were doing when at the park, she never went to Hogwarts, she went to the high school near us, and forgot all about magic, she's even stopped doing accidental magic when she's mad. She doesn't talk to me much now; I think she blames Jasmines death on me. You know, because I went back to Hogwarts, she begged me not to, we were fine. Well, until I actually went back, then my second year summer, she didn't talk to me, locked herself in her room, and said she was busy, tidying her room. I mean, I'm not dumb, I knew she hated me for the magic I held." Lily said, Lou and Laura were now both on the couch at this time, and Lily rested her head on Laura's shoulder, James put an arm round her for support. A few minuets later he asked, "But. But I thought you were muggle born?"  
  
"No. Well, yes" Lily said shaking her head, "The women on my family tree are all witches, but only if they have witch or wizards blood in them. My grandma was a witch, she married a muggle, and they had my dad, who wasn't a wizard, but he married my mum, who was a witch, and they had my sisters and me, making us all witches. So it goes down the women's side of the family. For example if had a son, and I married a muggle, my son wouldn't be a wizard. But if I married a wizard, then my son would be a wizard, but if I married a muggle, and had a daughter, she would be a witch, it goes like that all the way through my family, it goes way, way back." Lily explained,  
  
"Well, actually, Lily's wrong. She is only part witch, she's part Veela too" Laura pointed out, Lily's face reddened,  
  
"Yeah. So are you" Lily snapped back, she obviously didn't want James to know she was part Veela. Lou laughed,  
  
"You can't laugh, your part Veela too, we all are" Laura said. James looked at them,  
  
"I knew there was something different about the three of you." The girls laughed.  
  
"Well, at least you know why I came to this summer school thing" Lily said, James looked puzzled,  
  
"Why?" He asked  
  
"To get away from Petunia, I really don't want to be reminded about killing my sister" Lily said, smiling slightly.  
  
"Oh" James said, "What about you two, why did you come?" James asked Lou and Laura  
  
"Well, to get away from my family, that's actually what I saw in the mirror, getting away from my family. It was weird, all I saw was me standing on my doorstep, and my mum and dad behind me, and then they blurred, and I saw myself being hugged by a little boy and a little girl, they both called me mum and said I love you, and I was getting hugged by a guy, I supposed he was my husband. I suppose what I want most in my life is to be away from my family and have one of my own, someone I can love, like my mates" Lou said, "So that's why I came, oh, and of course to be with Lily and Laura" Lou added in laughing.  
  
"What about you Laura, what did you see in the mirror, and why did you come here?" James asked her,  
  
"I came here to be with my girls, so I wouldn't be a loner, and what I saw in the mirror. Well I was with a guy, and I was being loved, pretty much it. Encase you haven't noticed, all of us have suffered a loss, I lost my boyfriend, you know, the one you've had since you were two, the one you thought you'd get married to. Well, obviously you wouldn't be thinking that about a boy, would you?" Laura asked him, jokingly.  
  
"No, I wouldn't" James said laughing. "Good," Lily said, "Yeah, she's lost her boyfriend, I lost my sister"  
  
"And I lost my first best friend" Lou said, before Lily could tell James what Lou had lost. Laura and Lily looked at her awestruck,  
  
"He's not likely to blab it to anyone, other than the boys, so it doesn't matter" Lou said coolly.  
  
"How did you lose your best friend?" James asked, remembering that Laura, Lou and Lily had been best friends since first year, and before.  
  
"I was six, her name was Sarah, and she lived next to me. She betray me though once, I had called the bully's of our school, well, bully's. They hated me, and Sarah always wanted to be in with them, so she told them what I said, and they came and beat me up. I was sitting on the swings, minding my own business. In fact, I was with Sarah. They came up to me, about ten of them. They pulled me off the swing and punched me. I'm pure blood, and so I knew I was a witch at the time. And well, I was really scared, so I accidentally, tripped one of them up, magically. They went ballistic, I kept calling out for Sarah, but all she did was laugh and she too started punching me. I finally got away, but at school it was hell. The bully's left me be, but Sarah didn't. It took me ages to trust Lily and Laura, after Sarah had finally moved away. About a week after Sarah had moved, Lily and Laura moved into the houses on each side of me. Before long though, they were my best friends, and well, they've never changed," Lou said smiling at them.  
  
"That's why she hated you when Sirius kissed that girl, because she didn't want Laura getting hurt, and she hated you, because you were Sirius's friend, and you were with me" Lily said, Lou blushed,  
  
"I suppose I got you guys wrong," Lou said.  
  
"Not trying to press it, or anything, but how did you lose your boyfriend?" James asked Laura.  
  
"Err, James, I don't think..." Lily started  
  
"Nah, its okay, like Lou said, he's not going to tell anyone, is he?" Laura said rhetorically. "We didn't just break up, like any normal couple." Laura started, "It had its complications. I started going out with this guy when I was about, err, eight, I think. I thought he was great, perfect. Yeah, I was young, but still, he was great! We spent all our spare time with each other; Lily and Lou did get a bit annoyed since I was spending so much time with him, but they didn't mind that much. Well we lasted till I was ten. Oh, by the way, he was a year older than me, and he lived next to me. Well, he did for a while. He moved you see, and well, his dad got a job in America, so he had to go there, but only for six months, so we stayed in contact. Then he came back, it had only been six months, but boy had he changed, he used to be 'cute', but when he returned...." Laura trailed off, "He had a great tan, he had done something to his clothes, they looked great, but he wasn't cute anymore, he was stunning. The only thing that annoyed me was his new personality. He was arrogant and a bit bossy. He started flirting with everything, girls to dogs, in the literal sense!" Laura said. Lou and Lily laughed, "I got a bit fed up with him, so I decided to call it off, but. Well, some guys don't like being dumped, so he said no, then started to get a bit pushy, so I thought to myself, only a year left, then I'll be away from him, you know, Hogwarts. A week later though, we were in school, it was break time, and there was a huge gang around us, Dave was telling his jokes again, me laughing in the corner about how funny my boyfriend was. Then, he brings me into the middle of the circle with him, and starts to tell a joke, but it was a really nasty one, it was about me. I laughed it off, then he announced to the gang, how he couldn't bear the sight of me anymore, and that I was dumped. I was awestruck, I mean, I dumped him first, only about a week before. Then to make it worse that having half the school looking at me when I got dumped, he put a bunch of embarrassing secrets and all sorts of rumours, crap and anything nasty about me that he could find. No one never really got tiered of teasing me; I would get a lot of crap at school. I hated it there! That's why I wasn't so forgiving with Sirius when he kissed that girl," Laura finished off.  
  
"Oh" Was all James could say.  
  
James and the girls stayed up for about an hour, before they all turned in again.  
  
Over the week, the girls were getting really good at the transformations into animals. Lou had a black tail when she transformed, and her hands and feet shrunk to the size of cats paws, making it extremely hard for her to stand up. Laura had managed to sprout a horn and tail; her skin has also turned to a white shade. Lily had managed some hooves and a tail. Laura and Lily had frequent tail fights in the common room, when it was empty. Lily and Lou were complaining about how their skin hadn't turned colour, and how Laura's had. At the end of the week, though, they were all mistaken; Lou's skin turned black, and her tiny hands had sprouted claws, she had also mastered how to move her tail. Lily's skin had also turned the right colour, and her neck had grown a mane. Laura also had a mane, hooves, tail and her skin colour was now perfect for that of a unicorn.  
  
James was out on Monday morning, at about five o'clock in the morning, not being able to sleep, he knew it was still against the rules to be up and about at this hour, but he didn't want to wake up the rest of the boys. He got his invisibility clock out of the trunk. James was wandering around, when he heard the shuffling of feet, [I] Oh shoot, I need somewhere to hide [/I] James thought. He moved to the statue a few yards in front of him, and then he decided against it, he moved back to where he was, then decided against it, and went back to the statue. It was then when James saw a door materialise out of nowhere. Not even thinking about what was behind it, he dived in, and shut the door quickly. He was just in time for hearing the person pass him by. James let out a sigh, and then he observed his settings. He was in a room, it was quite a big room, and not like any he had seen at Hogwarts before. It was white, he then thought about how it had just materialised out of nowhere. He left the room, took a mental note of where it was, and went to get some breakfast. When James got to lake where they all met up for sports. Laura and Lou were grinning from ear to ear. James kissed Lily and asked what was up with Lou and Laura, "Were doing swimming," She said simply, Lou and Laura shot him a cheeky smile.  
  
"Can I talk to you after class?" Remus asked Lou, she nodded, looking suspicious. When they were all in swimming gear, James was admiring the girls, and he wasn't the only one. Lily had a dark blue bikini on, with silver material round the edges of it. Lou had a red bikini with silver medium sized, stars on it. Laura had a classical black bikini on, but she looked stunning in it. James had never seen any girls ever look as good in a bikini as they did. Laura and Lou did do as they said they would, "Miss" Lou said brightly, "Lily, here," Lou said pointing at Lily, "Well, she's an excellent swimmer"  
  
"Yeah, I think you should use her as an example of how to swim" Laura said, grinning at Lily. Lily glared back at them, but Professor Midgeal did ask her to do an example, and Lily reluctantly obliged. Later on the day, James still couldn't get his mind off that room, so he went looking for it again. He looked at the place where he remember it to be, but he didn't see it, "Oh, where is it, I need to find that room" James said out loud. He walked to the stature, then back to the picture, trying to find the room, pressing on the wall, then on his third time to the statue, the door appeared out of no where, again. James looked at the door, [I]"Wasn't it three times I walked past that door last time [/I] he thought? James went a few yards away again, and noticed the door fade away into nothingness. James went past again, "I need some food," James said as his stomach rumbled, going past the invisible door three times. James didn't really think anything would appear different when he went in the room again, but his jaw dropped and as he saw, food. All over the room were different types of all his favourite food, there was one table and one chair, and everything else in it was his favourite food, there was food on the floor, on the table, on the shelves, literally everywhere. James stayed in the room for about an hour, until he felt so sick, he had to leave. When he got to the common room, he decided not to tell anyone what he had witnessed, he knew he was being selfish, but he did show them the mirror, and he would show them the room, just not yet. Entering the common room, he saw Lily on the chair, Laura on James's lap, and Remus with his arm round Lou, and Peter not in sight.  
  
"Peter with Penelope?" He asked sitting on Lily on purpose,  
  
"Ahhh, James get off," She squealed, James did so. He pulled her off as well, sat down, and pulled her down on to his lap, where she stayed happily.  
  
"Yeah, he is" Remus said, answering James's question about Peter.  
  
"Hold on, what did I miss?" James asked looking at Lou and Remus.  
  
"Oh," Sirius said, "We couldn't find you, to tell you, that Remus and Lou are now officially an item" Sirius said grinning at them. Remus glared at Sirius, and Lou blushed slightly.  
  
"So where were you?" Lily asked, leaning in a kissing him.  
  
"Walking about, trying to find a new passage way?" James said casually.  
  
"Oh, did you find one?" Lily asked  
  
"No, but I found Filch, and he ain't too happy" James said, lying.  
  
"Oh, did you get detention?" Laura asked. James shook his head,  
  
"Nah, I managed to get out of it. I lied" James lied. Lily nodded.  
  
The rest of the week flew by; revision and the girls practicing to become an Animagus mainly occupied the week. On Saturday, James had a lie in, and woke up at eleven o'clock; he couldn't see a trace of his friends so he decided to go back to the room. He had named it the "Room of Requirement" this time instead of getting food, he asked for a place to think, and he sat and thought in the room until his stomach started to growl. He went down to the Great Hall, and caught his friends having lunch; "Hey" He said sitting by Lily, and kissing her on the cheek.  
  
"Afternoon, sleepyhead" Lily said.  
  
"We were going to wake you up, but we thought you'd like to sleep in" Sirius told him. Later that day, the room of requirement was still ebbing at his head, he didn't know whether to tell them or not. The girls went to bed early, and James could hold it in anymore, he went up and got the cloak, "Come on, I have to show you something" James said swishing the cloak over them all.  
  
"Where are we going?" Peter asked, James didn't answer, not until the got to the picture James had familiarised him self with.  
  
"Clear your minds of everything, and follow me" James told them. James walked three times to the statue and back, thinking the same thought: [I] I want to be able to impress my friends with this room. [/I] When he was back at his original starting place, he saw the door materialise again. Inside was the room he saw the first time he found it, it was white, filled with comfy chairs, sparkly walls and a bunch of books and magazines to read. "Cool" The three boys said at the same time.  
  
"Yeah, its not bad" James said, "Here, go out again, and I'll show you something again,  
  
"I want a room filled with chocolate" James said out loud and walked the same steps he did. Walking in to the room again, he saw a chocolate covered room, "Now that, that is impressive," Peter said,  
  
"Very!" Remus said. All over the room were chocolate, there was on table and one chair, and everything else in it was made of chocolate, there were bars and bags of chocolate on the floor, on the table, on the shelves, literally everywhere. The boys pigged out on chocolate and before long; they were on the chairs feeling sick. Very sick. The girls all wondered where they had been over the last few hours, Remus told them that he had to talk to one of the teachers, the girls believed him. The boys spent a lot of their free time in the room of requirement, having fun thinking up of better ways to spend in the room.  
  
"James?!"  
  
"Sirius?!"  
  
"Remus?!" The three girls called their boyfriends names when they got into the common room, it was quite late, so everyone was in bed and the common room was empty.  
  
"Peter!?" The girls said, noticing no one had said his name. They all laughed and James asked what they were so excited about.  
  
"Look" Lou said, one by one, the girls turned into animals, Lou had successfully turned into a black cat. Lily now resembled a palomino horse, and Laura had indeed changed into a unicorn.  
  
"Oh my God!" Peter said, all the boys looked at each other in total disbelief, James knew what they were thinking. [/I] How could they of done it in such short notice, it took them years. And here they were, changing into animals. It took them less than eight weeks. [I] James knew they were thinking this because he was thinking it too, "That's great" Remus said, breaking the ice. The girls transformed, James couldn't contain himself; "How did you do it?" He asked, the girls smiled,  
  
"We had great teachers, why, do you want to become an Animagus?" Lily asked James,  
  
"No" James said a bit to quickly.  
  
"What would you become anyways?" Laura asked them  
  
"I mean, if you wanted to, what would you become?" Lou added.  
  
"Stag" James said  
  
"Dog" Sirius said simply  
  
"Rat" Peter said without any thought  
  
"Hawk" Remus said, the girls all looked at them,  
  
"Have you ever given this any thought?" Lily asked them suspiciously. The boys shook their heads,  
  
"No" James said  
  
"Its just our favourite animals" Peter told them, the girls nodded, still looking suspiciously at them


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen: Exams, Musicals, and Plays. On Monday, when they were all practicing for the mini Quidditch matches that were to be held on the last week of term James could not get the vision off the girls transforming into animals at such ease, out of his head. He kept muttering, "How did they do it?" to himself.  
  
"Now. The match is on Saturday, is everyone ready?" Professor Midgeal was asking the class, there was a murmur of  
  
"Yes" going round the class,  
  
"Good. Now of you go".  
  
Back in the common room that night, the Marauders and the girls were all practicing their lines for the play they were doing, it was an original one, so if push came to shove, and they forgot their lines, they could make them up. Well, that was what Lou kept telling them. Though her plan backfired when Sirius said there was no point in practising them. James had hit the jackpot with his part in the play, because when they were choosing what they would be doing, he had practically begged Professor Drummond to let him have one scene where he kissed Lilly, so Professor Drummond granted him his wish. Sirius was less than happy at his role though, as he was to be playing an enemy of Laura's, he kept telling both Laura and Drummond that it was impossible to be mad at Laura. Lou had the main role; Lilly had the next lead, as well as Laura. Remus and Peter didn't have a role that contained them being either enemies or lovers with their girlfriends. The play was the next day, and it was a competition between the houses, of whom could do the best play. James wasn't in the slightest bit nervous, in his opinion he couldn't care less. Lou, Laura and Lilly though did care; they all wanted to beat Slythrin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw so much that they didn't stop saying their lines, giving the Marauders a constant headache. Not being selfish, but James only cared about him winning the Quidditch, and when Lilly wasn't trying to persuade him to practice his lines, he was reading up on tactics and moves. James fell asleep quite late, waking up to Lilly's voice; "Now this is what I could get used to," James said pulling her on to the bed.  
  
"James, as much as I would love to stay here with you, but we can't, we have to get ready for the play, its in two hours" Lilly said, pouting.  
  
"Two hours? That's ages" James commented  
  
"Come on James, please" Lilly whined again, flashing him a set of puppy dog eyes and a beautiful smile.  
  
"That Veela really shows up on you there" James said  
  
"James, get up" Lilly said, but she was laughing slightly  
  
"Hey. One more thing" James said, Lilly paused at the door, "Does that mean if we didn't have to get ready for the play you would stay in bed with me?" James asked innocently. Lilly only rolled her eyes,  
  
"Get up James" She said again,  
  
"I'll take that as a yes then" James called out to her, she didn't reply that time. James got changed, had his breakfast, and then went, once again, to revise his lines again with Lilly. "Come on Lilly, we haven't got the kissing scene right yet" James said flashing her a grin, gripping her round the waste and kissing her.  
  
"James, we cant, no offence meant to you. But you don't know your lines, and I'm pretty aware that you know how to kiss" Lilly said after their kiss. James flashed her another grin, and gave in,  
  
"Okay, okay, we'll practice" James said. Lilly smiled brightly,  
  
"You're the best James," She said kissing him,  
  
"I've been telling you that for ages" James told her quietly. Lilly rolled her eyes and started saying here lines. Professor Drummond fetched them about half an hour later. When Lilly, Lou and Laura were all together, they were all panicking, loudly about messing up their lines. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, who all herd them, couldn't understand what was so important about it anyway. "Now, Quidditch. That I can understand" Sirius said away from the girls, the boys all agreed,  
  
"Maybe even Music, because if you do a wrong note, people are going to hear you" Peter added, there was yet again, a murmur of agreement from the boys,  
  
"Yeah, but like Lou said, no one apart from Drummond and the cast, are going to notice if we go wrong, because its an original" Remus said, yet again, they all agreed.  
  
"Ten seconds till curtain" Professor Drummond called from behind them, they all got in their places,  
  
"Five seconds" Drummond said again, the girls stopped muttering,  
  
"Three, two, one" He said again, as the curtain rose. James didn't have any lines in the first scene, he just casually observed on the set. 'Looking good', was what he called it. James kept squinting when he looked out at the audience, he couldn't see a thing, because the stage was too lit up for him to see out properly. An hour and a half later, James came off the stage with Lilly, who looked extremely relieved that the play was now over, "We have to change, then go see who won" Lilly said,  
  
"That's obvious, us" Lou said with confidence,  
  
"Yeah, I mean, Slythrin did Romeo and Juliet, we so saw that one coming, everyone always does that play. Hufflepuff did a crap Cabaret, I mean, have you ever seen such bad dancing. Okay, so Ravenclaw's was a bit like ours, in the way it was original, but it was about a lousy farmer, and there were what, three main parts, and about twenty small, and I mean, small parts" Laura said, Sirius chuckled,  
  
"Yeah, Laura's right, we brought down the house" Sirius said kissing Laura. Lilly was now convinced that they had won, thanks to Laura. They all took their places in the audience (the house tables) and waited for Dumbledore's announcement on who had won.  
  
"Fourth place, but still a wonderful re-incarnation, of Romeo and Juliet, is Slythrin" Dumbledore announced.  
  
"See" James herd Laura say up the table, James grinned, [I] Maybe she is right [/I] James thought.  
  
"In third place, thought it was a wonderful, and original piece, Ravenclaw" Dumbledore said,  
  
"I thought that was us then" James herd Lilly say,  
  
"Now, in second place, Hufflepuff" Dumbledore said. James grinned, but before he could say anything, Laura was shouting out to the Gryffindor's, who had all stood up,  
  
"I told you, haha, we beat you, haha," Laura shouted to the other hall, and all the houses looked extremely annoyed that they had lost. Sirius was grappling at Laura, trying to pull her down from her chair, as all the other houses had stood up and looked like they were going to pounce on her and kill her. When Sirius had managed to restrain Laura, Dumbledore made an announcement,  
  
"Yes, yes. Well-done Gryffindor. Your performance, was suburb, I enjoyed every minuet of it" The Gryffindor's all went up with Professor Drummond (who was sitting at the Gryffindor table) and got their trophy's. There was one big one, to be stored in the Trophy room, and thirty-seven smaller trophies, given out to each of the Gryffindor pupils. When everyone was back at the common room, and the commotion had died down, James was trying to get Lilly to spend time with him, but she was refusing, on the grounds that she now had to practice her instrument for tomorrow's recital. James left her and went to study with Sirius, who was only studying because of Laura. Remus and Peter were also, both practicing their instruments.  
  
"What's the main ingredient in a Pollyjuice potion?" Sirius asked as James sat down next to him,  
  
"You know that" James said  
  
"Yeah I know, I'm testing you" Sirius replied,  
  
"Oh, okay. Bomslang skin" James answered, "Who lead the first goblin rebellion, and in what year?" James now asked Sirius,  
  
"Gwalda Huglimp, in 1247" Sirius told him,  
  
"Yip" James said, the rest of the night consisted of everyone apart from James and Sirius playing their instruments, and James and Sirius revising. The musical show was to be at one o'clock, leaving everyone time to get ready, or in James's case, get up. Coming back from breakfast, he noticed that not everyone was as in tune as they should be, especially not the Ravenclaw's. [I] Finally, something they're crap at [/I] James thought to himself as he went by a Ravenclaw sixth year, trying to play the trumpet.  
  
"You should see the Ravenclaw's, that is one bad piece of playing coming from them," James said when he saw Remus in the common room, "Hey Lill's, we'll do great, should of heard the Ravenclaw's!" James added in seeing Lilly. Lilly giggled,  
  
"Yeah, we will, I don't want to chance it though, I'm off to practice again!"  
  
"Psycho, I swear she is. She knows were going to win," Sirius said wearily. There was a murmur of agreement,  
  
"Who's for a little game of Quidditch?" James asked with a grin  
  
"Well, what about revising?" Remus asked him,  
  
"Mooney, Mooney, Money, you must get this straight, all work, no play," Sirius said clapping a hand on Remus's shoulder, "Makes you get poor marks, live a little, mate" Sirius said with a cheeky grin, "Dunno about him, but count me in!" Sirius said again, Peter agreed, and so did Remus, after thinking it over.  
  
All four Marauders trouped out on the Quidditch pitch, brooms in hand, and reedy to play a good game of two on two Quidditch. At the end of the hour when they were all finished. James and Sirius had paired up and beat Remus and Peter, and seceded, and they were now all arguing about someone cheating. "Ach, not a bad match, you didn't get beat that much" James said wiping sweat from his forehead.  
  
"You didn't get beaten by that much, Mr Potter, not beat, you should catch up on your grammar." Professor Midgeal said walking of the stands and on to the pitch,  
  
"Sorry professor, didn't see you there" James replied  
  
"Hmm, so I see. You four should have no problem winning tomorrow. Tell the rest that as well" Midgeal said to them, smiling widely. "Oh, and also, the procedure for tomorrow, is that you will play Slythrin first, then you, okay, well the winners of that match, will play Ravenclaw, then the two losers of those games, will play each other the next day, so you are only against two teams, Slythrin and Ravenclaw, 'cause your going to kick some Slythrin butt" Midgeal said again, grinning this time. The boys laughed at the attitude of their professor, and proceeded back to the dormitories.  
  
"I have to get that one" Laura was saying when the boys entered the common room, Laura, Lilly and Lou were all sitting down on the sofa in the common room, which was virtually empty, reading some sort of magazine,  
  
"What ya looking at?" Sirius asked looking over Laura's shoulder.  
  
"Oh, nothing" Laura said, turning to look at Sirius with her eyes alight, and the twinkle noticeable in her bright blue brown eyes.  
  
"Yeah, sure! Now hand it over," James said raising his wand and saying a few words that led to the magazine being torn out of Lilly, Lou and Laura's reaching grip and flying into James' hand.  
  
"James!" Lilly, Lou and Laura all shouted,  
  
"What?" James asked his trademark grin on his face, "Can't a guy be interested in what his girlfriend is hiding from him?" He added, opening the first page of the glossy magazine,  
  
"What the hell?" Peter exclaimed as he saw the magazine, James felt the same way. The magazine was full of dresses. Each dress was posing for the camera, before moving around again, every now and again, a dress would giggle. "It's the magazine from the dress place in Hogsmeade!" Lilly snapped at the boys, before snatching it out of the boys grip. As Lou, Lilly and Laura excused themselves to their room, the boys all wondered what the hell they were looking at that for.  
  
"Of course!" Remus suddenly said,  
  
"What?" James asked, "Why were they looking at that?"  
  
"The dance, the end of term thing that Lou and that were on about earlier on in the summer Holliday" Remus said. "Its on the last week of term..." Remus said, trailing off  
  
"After the exams, and the Quidditch, and we get a day beforehand to go shopping, and do what we want. Yeah I remember now" Sirius said, "Laura was going on about it sometime last week"  
  
"That means, we only have a week left of summer school, this time in two weeks time, we'll be in class, proper lessons!" Peter said in an unhappy tone.  
  
"Yip" James said disappointment spread across his pale face, "Hey, I have an idea!" James suddenly said,  
  
"Go on, Prongs" Sirius said,  
  
"The girls, we wanna make the last night a good night, yeah?" James said,  
  
"Yeah..." Remus, Peter and Sirius said slowly,  
  
"Well, why don't we split from the dance, not early, but, well, yeah, maybe slightly early, and use the room of requirement as a, well, as a romantic, girly thing, for them, make it special for them, make it perfect for them," James suggested,  
  
"You come up with the soppiest things, Prongs" Sirius said disapprovingly  
  
"No, no Prong's has a point, I mean, think about it Padfoot, if we make the last night, well, second last night at this holiday, then, we'll never get rid of them, and I mean that in a good way, don't you think?" Remus said to the group,  
  
"Well, I guess..." Sirius said, still not sounding optimistic about it,  
  
"What do you mean second last night?" Peter suddenly asked,  
  
"It's the second last night that the dance is on, not the last," Remus said,  
  
"Oh, okay" Peter said, slowly.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, seems like a good idea to me!" Sirius finally said, James smiled,  
  
"Good good. See, I can come up with some good ideas! Now, if you do excuse me, I am going to bed, I have a Quidditch match to win tomorrow morning" James said stiffly,  
  
"Yeah Prongs, we're really going to need to concentrate on that wont we, I mean Slythrin are going to be so hard to beat" Sirius said sarcastically,  
  
"Haha, very funny Padfoot, mind me if I want to do well" James said before going up the stone stairs leading to his dormitory.  
  
The date today was the eighteenth of August, that meant James and the rest of the Marauders had two days before there exams, not to mention a whole weeks worth of the 'bloody things' as Sirius so lightly put it. Then there would be the Hogsmeade trip the next day, and the dance that night, then back to school two days later. James decided that he was going to get all his books when he went to Hogsmeade, he has already cleared it with the girls that they weren't going to be together at the Hogsmeade trip. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were going to be staying away from the girls because they were buying there dresses, and they didn't want the guys to see them, "Its not like it's a flipping wedding gown" Sirius said spitefully when Laura told him. The expression on Sirius' face was incredible. Sirius had never, not got his way in his life. Right now, all four boys and three girls were getting their way in the game of Quidditch. Gryffindor were already up one hundred points to ten in the match against Slythrin. James was going to waiting till they got up one hundred and fifty points up on Slythrin, before he caught the snitch. James wanted to beat them one hundred and fifty points to ten, he had already restrained himself from catching the snitch. James played for the crowds though, and played Malfoy into the ground, literally. James kept diving into the ground, and showing his skills, turn out of the dive just in time to see Malfoy go straight into the mud. "I will kill you Potter, wait till I get you" Malfoy had said to him while he was still hovering just above him. There was a slight twinge in James stomach, something he had never felt when Malfoy made death threats at him, "That'll be the day Malfoy, that'll be the day," James said before swishing off upwards to the air. Although James thought Malfoy could do no harm, after all, James was ahead of him in every subject, but he still couldn't shake the strange feeling in his stomach that he first received when Malfoy said his threat. James managed to hold the feeling off as he waited till Slythrin were one hundred and fifty points behind, and James casually raced after the snitch, his black hair blowing as he flew into the wind, his hazel eyes were fixed on the snitch, soon his hand was as well. Soon he had the whole Gryffindor house and Professor Midgeal around him, clapping him on the back, and telling him that they had them going when he went to crash into the ground. The rest of the team were getting a lot off attention, and everyone was lapping it up. The Marauders and the girls all watched the match that was held later that day, Hufflepuff verses Ravenclaw, and Ravenclaw won fifty- thirty. That meant that Hufflepuff would be playing Slythrin tomorrow, and Gryffindor would be playing Ravenclaw. The team weren't really fussed, as they found Ravenclaw an easy opponent. Lilly, Laura and Lou, much to the boys dismay, spent the rest of the evening locked up in their dormitory's, doing exam revision.  
  
"I never see her!" Remus said in a huffy voice,  
  
"I know, stupid exams." Peter said, matching Remus tone. Remus sent him a glare and Peter hurriedly said, "I'm talking about Penny, not Lou, don't worry" Peter said matching Remus voice,  
  
"Awww, poor ickle Moony and Wormtail, they don't get to see their girlfriends as much as they want! Awww" Sirius said in mock concern, Remus and Peter just glared at them. The boys figured, that without the girls, they should revise, as they couldn't go out to cause havoc, as none of them 'could be bothered'  
  
"What's a Hippogriff?" Peter quizzed the boys, the remaining boys turned to stare at him,  
  
"Wormtail, at least ask decent questions!" Sirius snapped at Peter, who went red, and mumbled a 'sorry.' After twenty minuets of questions, all of which they knew the answer to, they decided to get some food, "To the kitchens!" James exclaimed, hurrying to get the Marauders map. Remus still looked slightly shifty about the whole idea, and complained about getting caught slightly, but he was soon silenced when the house elves were treating him with extremely superiority. All the boys went to bed, stuffed and tiered and looking for a good game of Quidditch tomorrow. Remus asked James nicely the next morning if there was a chance that he could make the game quick, since he wanted to revise a bit for the exam that would start the next morning. James half-heartedly agreed, and the game was over in twenty minuets, Gryffindor winning one hundred and ninety to twenty. All the boys admitted that Ravenclaw gave them a good match, "If they had a quicker seeker, they might have won," Laura was saying.  
  
"Ah, but they don't, do they, we have the best seeker in the world" Sirius said, making James blush as Sirius mucked up his hair. Lilly agreed that James was the best seeker, and went on about how she was so lucky to have him, making James blush even more. As the night grew later, slowly people in the inhabitants of the common room grew smaller and smaller. Lou and Laura decided to go and revise a bit more, "Just for luck" as Laura called it. Remus, Peter and Sirius decided that it would probably be best if they did a little bit of revision as well. James was going to go revise. Only he didn't want to leave Lilly. James and Lilly chatted about everything, they both admitted that they didn't want to go back to school, school. James then had a sudden urge to tell Lilly about what happened with Malfoy, he launched into the whole story, and ended it "...I don't know why I care, he cant do anything." Lilly looked at him sceptically,  
  
"Your probably not as wrong as you think, I mean Lou said it herself, Voldermort is recruiting tons and tons of new people, maybe Malfoy is one of them, and maybe he thinks you already know that." Lilly said, with a worried look on her face. The look instantly disappeared as she looked at James. "Don't worry, your right in saying that he can't do anything to you, anyways, even if he could, your under Dumbledore's watch, and mine. I'm never going to let anything happen to you, ever..." Lilly trailed off, before bringing James' face to hers and kissing him sweetly. James and Lilly spent a lot of the night cuddled up in a tight embrace, hardly saying a word, watching the embers of the fire slowly go out. When the common room was completely dark, and James looked at his watch that said two eighteen, he slowly shook Lilly awake for she had fallen asleep on him. "C'mon Lill's, we've got to get you to bed" James said, shaking her again, she opened her eyes, and in James opinion, and surely many others, she looked so beautiful, asleep on him, her eyes closed, she looked so peaceful, you would have never thought this was the girl James had been annoying since second year. "Its funny what can happen in a few years" James said to a half-awake Lilly,  
  
"Why?" She asked him, her eyes still closed.  
  
"Because five years ago, I never knew the girl of my dreams, did I?" James said to her kissing her softly,  
  
"I guess not, funny to see where we'll be in five years time" Lilly said still sleepily, she had opened her eyes by this time, "I didn't mean like us, like married or anything, I just meant, well you know, you, and me, not necessarily together" Lilly said in a rush, going beet red,  
  
"I dunno, I wouldn't mind that, wouldn't mind it at all..." James said, "Now c'mon, have to get you to bed, I can't carry you up the stairs, without killing you" James said, referring to the stairs that turned to a slope when a male stepped on them. Lilly went rather reluctantly to the girls dormitories, not before she gave James a lingering kiss. James slept that night, with his head full of Lilly, he wondered what it would be like when he got back to lessons, would they still be together, what about in a few years time, all James could tell himself is that he wanted to be with her till he died...That was his last thought before drifting off to an easy slumber.  
  
[I] Who invented Cheering charms? [/I] James read to himself, he was sitting in his charms exam, reading over the paper, he had an hour and a half to do a paper in which he could do in about half an hour. The main part of the charms exam was about cheering charms, when they were invented, what mistakes could go wrong with them and some famous incidents that included them. These were all some of the questions involved in the paper. After the one and half hour exam, everyone had to wait there turn to practice a cheering charm on someone else. James and Sirius went into the room together and each one did a perfect cheering charm on each other. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for poor Peter, who overdid it and made Remus into a giddy fool, he was so 'cheerful' he couldn't stand still, luckily, Remus preformed his charm on Peter first, and he got an 'excellent' from the examiner, although he had to be contained to a room for the rest of the exam time. "I mean its great. I've never been so happy. I love you for this Peter. Ah, isn't this just the best?" Remus was saying, still extremely happy at ten o'clock that night. Although Remus may have been saying that he loved Peter, James, Sirius, Lilly, Laura and especially Lou were less than pleased with Peter. So upset with him, that Peter went to bed, feeling slightly left out, and sick of glares from Sirius and James. Sirius and James followed suit a bit later, after feeling guilty about shutting Peter out, "After all, its not his fault, its not like he meant it, I'm sure it was just nerves earlier on" Sirius had said. Remus stayed up, being to, 'happy to sleep.' Lou stayed with him, after Laura and Lilly decided to go to bed since Remus laugh was annoying them. The Potions exam was on the next day, no mistakes were made it that, they had to make a simple sleeping potion, and test it on the school owls. Lilly highly objected to this, saying it was cruelty to animals, however, her objection made no difference at all. The defence against the dark arts exam was the next day, and they all had to get past a set of Red Caps and be leaded into where a Boggart was. Peter had problems with the Boggart part of the exam, he couldn't stop it, and ran out screaming, he didn't tell any of the other Marauders what he saw, although they were curious. History of Magic was the most boring exam, it was asking all about famous wizards, and held no pattern, nothing on the Goblins like James had studied for, although James still thought he did okay. This was the only exam Remus thought he did less than average in, he said he didn't understand what James Gryffis did, James looked shocked, "c'mon Mooney, they guy has my name, kinnda, well, my first name, you should know that!" James told him half jokingly.  
  
"So what was it then?" Remus asked James, thinking he didn't actually know the answer  
  
"He was the founder of the 'Disposal Of Dangerous Creatures'" James said smartly  
  
"Ah, so he was! How could I forget that?" Remus said bitterly,  
  
"Ach, don't be like that mate, its just one mark off, there's another forty-nine that you gained" Sirius said clapping him on the shoulder. The last two exams they had were on a Saturday and Sunday, Transfiguration was on Saturday, and whatever you choose out of Divination, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes or Muggle Studies. James was out before lunch. James had taken Arithmancy along with Sirius and Remus. Peter on the other hand took Ancient Runes. So James went to find the girls, to celebrate the last exam they had just finished, only to find out that Lilly had chosen to take Ancient Runes and Divination, Lou had taken Arithmancy and Divination and Laura had taken Muggle Studies and Divination, meaning they all had a full day, each with two exams, meaning James couldn't see them until dinner time. 


	16. Last Chapter

Chapter Sixteen: The End Of An Adventure  
  
"The Hogsmeade trip is tomorrow." James told the common room, consisting of a few scared little second years the Marauders and not to mention the girls.  
  
"Yip" Lilly said brightly, cuddling in to James and kissing him.  
  
"You lot figured out what you're wearing?" Sirius asked them curiously. The girls face all split into identical grins,  
  
"Yip" They all said,  
  
"And we have our shoes, make-up, handbags, jewellery and hair all planned as well" Laura said smiling brightly.  
  
"Yip" Lou and Lilly said in agreement.  
  
"You don't mind us not going to Hogsmeade with you lot, do you?" Lilly asked them,  
  
"Nah, were over it," James said quickly,  
  
"Oh thanks!" Lou said jokingly  
  
"Ah, we never meant it like that" Remus said holding Lou closer and kissing her. Just then the door to the common room opened,  
  
"Ah, the man of the moment, where ya been Peter?" Sirius said across the common room,  
  
"I erm, I got attacked! Malfoy, said something to me, then I told him to shut up, and he pressed me up against a wall and told me to watch my step or I'll be going down the same road as Potter." Peter said sacredly, "What did he mean James?" Peter asked him. The whole common room turned to look at him, including the second years.  
  
"I do-don't know" James admitted, "He said the same kinnda thing to me when I drove him into the ground at the Quidditch match, something about watching my step and him killing me" James said, banishing the feeling in his stomach.  
  
"Not scared are you, James?" Sirius asked, a mix of curiosity and worry,  
  
"Nah, not at all, why would I?" James laughed it off, but he hated to admit that the feeling he had at the Quidditch match, was back in his stomach, stronger than ever, he just had a nagging feeling something bad was going to happen. The girls seemed to accept that James was fine, although the Marauders didn't, the minuet they were all in the dormitory he got bombarded with questions, "What's going on, Prongs?" Sirius questioned,  
  
"I dunno, its weird, I did that dive thing, like I told you, then he said what he did, and for once in my life, I'm actually worried that Malfoy might do something to me, I mean, we've pd him off enough in the last five years, that he would probably join up with that Voldermort just to kill us!" James reeled off.  
  
"Don't be stupid, James" Sirius said. James could tell Sirius was either extremely annoyed at him, or extremely worried about him, for he called him James.  
  
"Yeah, your right, I am, I'm sorry" James said, curling into bed, he would get to the bottom of this on the last day of term.  
  
"Hey, mates" Sirius started, James turned to face him, "Don't fret it, it'll be fine" Sirius said with a reassuring smile. James smiled at his best friend before falling asleep.  
  
James had no reason to wake up the next day, so he didn't until gone one o'clock, when Lilly came into see him. "Hey sweetie, how you feeling" She said stroking his jet-black hair, his face.  
  
"Yeah, I'm good" James said sleepily, he flattened his hair, but it made no difference, "Morning" James said still rather sleepily,  
  
"Morning" Lilly giggled, "You getting up any time this morning?" Lilly asked jokingly, "Were all heading into Hogsmeade, in about half an hour." She informed him,  
  
"Oh, right, yeah, okay, tell them I'll be down in ten" James said, pulling Lilly into bed with him, "In fact, tell them that I've changed my mind, no, then you'll have to go downstairs, never mind, they can wait" James said, tight clasp around Lilly's waist,  
  
"James! Get off me, I have to go downstairs" Lilly said in a very girlish, sweet tone.  
  
"Awww, shame, it was going to be the highlight of my day, being in the same bed as my beautiful girlfriend, for a bit" James said with a smirk,  
  
"Then you'll have something to look forward to then, wont you" Lilly said getting out of James's clasp and walking towards the door,  
  
"Is that a promise, Lilly?" James asked, knowing the answer to be no,  
  
"Yeah, yeah it is, James" Lilly said, her lovely auburn hair swished across her face, and a pink tinge was visible caused by what she said.  
  
James was still smiling, and still in shock at the recent promise Lilly had made to him. James and the Marauders said goodbye to the girls at the carriages, where they took one carriage, and the girls took another one. They were going to meet up at about six o'clock at the Three Broomsticks. Even though the girls already told them they weren't going to show them their dresses. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter all decided that they were going to go and buy the boring stuff first, like the dress robes and there books which they got the list for yesterday. "You know what, I've never ever bought a book in this place!" Remus said out of nowhere,  
  
"Hmmm, neither have I, come to think of it" Sirius agreed. They got all their level six books, and a copy of, 'Artefact's for the brave' as well as a copy of, 'Mischief For The Makers.' James, Sirius, Remus and Peter all decided these books would be a must have for next year. When they got their robes, there was the usual complaints about looking stupid, Remus had a nice set of blue ones, 'to match his eyes' as the lady picking the robes for him told him. James, being James had to get the best, and was fitted in a light brown set that made him look, extremely mature, and extremely handsome. Sirius got a blood red set and Peter got himself a grey/white pair. James, although he wouldn't admit it, looked extremely fetching in his robes. When they had got the 'boring' stuff out of the way, they made there way to the Shrieking Shack. "Well, this is different, seeing it from here," Remus said, smiling slightly  
  
"It is isn't it? Just think, three years time, we'll be long gone, long gone. Wonder where we'll be" Peter said leaning on the fence surrounding the shack.  
  
"I'll be married to Lilly, have a kid called Harry, or if it's a girl, she'll be called Rose, be filthy rich, live in a huge house and be respected by so many people" James said confidently,  
  
"Yeah Prongs, sure you will be! I on the other hand, will be either still with Laura, I'm not one of these people who jump in to marriage – Sirius shot a look at James, to say, unlike you! – I'll be making my money the hard way, I will have no kids, but a nice house, away from my family, and that nut case of a house elf we have!" Sirius reeled off,  
  
"Well, I will not be married either, I will be a bachelor, living by myself, poor, with no proper job, probably cleaning muggle toilets, I will be living with my cat, and I would turn myself into a rat to get some kicks" Peter said unhappily,  
  
"Don't be stupid Wormtail!" Remus said, laughing slightly at Peter's comments,  
  
"Nah you wont Wormtail, you wont" Sirius assured him,  
  
"Yeah, we wont let you get into that state!" James added. "What about you Moony?"  
  
"Hmm, I would probably be researching a cure for my, 'problem,' I would have found one, I would be living in the country, with a beautiful girl, not married yet, with a nice house, a great Quidditch pitch in my back yard, cause I will be stinking rich when I sell my cure!" Remus said with a smirk of longing on his face.  
  
"Nice" Sirius and James said at the same time,  
  
"Very." Added Peter.  
  
"It's going to be weird though, isn't it, I mean, we wont see each other every day" Peter said, James thought he saw a tear in Peter's eye, so he quickly said,  
  
"Ach, don't be silly, course we will, anyways, why do we care about this right now? We still have two long years full of lovely memories to be filled" James said heroically.  
  
"Check the hero" Remus said, giving James a little push.  
  
James and the rest of the Marauders didn't spend that much more time at the shack, so they went and sat in the Three Broomsticks, waiting for the arrival of the girls, even though they knew it would be a few hours before they got there, they didn't mind.  
"You know, as much as I love Lilly, I really like it when its back to normal, you know, all of us, the Marauders, and no one else" James said,  
  
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Remus said, quickly he added, "Just don't tell Lou I said that." They all laughed,  
  
"Hocked!" Sirius and James said at the same time,  
  
"Ha-ha" was all Remus said. At five to six, the girls walked into the three broomsticks, saw the boys, and bounced there way over to them, all three of them were carrying countless shopping bags, they also happened to have someone else with them,  
  
"Heya, look who we found" Lou said brightly, pointing to the pretty little blonde next to her, it was Penny,  
  
"Heya" She said all smiles, "Do you mind if I stay?" She asked, suddenly nervous.  
  
"No, not at all" James said  
  
"Friend of Peter's, is a friend of ours," Sirius said, making room for the girls. "Well, I don't know if you could call yourself a friend of Peters, bit more than that, eh" Sirius said, nudging Peter, who blushed, and said  
  
"Shut up Sirius!" very quietly. The girls, much to there dismay couldn't fit there bags under the table, so they had to put them up by the bar, Sirius took them up for the girls and ordered them all some drinks. James could have sworn that he saw Sirius peer into one of Laura's bags, put in a blink of an eye, he wasn't doing anything suspicious.  
  
They all made there way up to the castle, when the girls saw the time, "Oh my gosh!" its seven o'clock, the dance starts at nine! We have to go" Laura exclaimed, there was a mad rush to get there bags, and rushed kisses to the boys, "We'll see you in the common room, at quarter to nine" Lilly informed them all,  
  
"That okay?" Lou asked, they all nodded, "Good, good, see you then" She said, giving Remus another kiss, before she was dragged off by Laura, "I'll see you later" She said laughing.  
  
"We are so lucky, we have the hottest babes in the, whole school" Sirius said, all three boys nodded and took a glug of there drink at the same time.  
  
The boys headed back up to the school at eight o'clock, failing to see the point in taking two hours to get ready, all they were going to do was jump in the shower, put on there robes, and fix there hair, that was it.  
"Remember, room of requirement, we should draw up a plan for it, how long do you think we'll each need?" James asked,  
  
"Well, then thing finishes at two o'clock..." Remus said,  
  
"Two?" Peter, Sirius and James all said loudly  
  
"Yeah, Dumbledore says he's not bothered about it going on late, since none of us have to do anything tomorrow, but people are allowed to leave early if they feel they have to" Remus said,  
  
"How do you know all this?" James asked him,  
  
"Lou" He said simply,  
  
"Ah, of course" James said. "Right, well that gives us, five hours, an hour each, your wanting to use it aren't you Wormtail?" James asked mid sentence,  
  
"Do you mind?" Peter asked nervously,  
  
"Don't be stupid of course we don't! So that means, an hour each, then an hour at the dance thing, at the start... that sound alright?" James asked them.  
  
"Yeah, sounds good" Sirius said, "A whole hour, by myself with Laura, great!" Sirius said, a sinister look appearing on his face. The guys all laughed,  
  
"So who's going to be the first one in there?" James asked,  
  
"Me!" Sirius said, suddenly,  
  
"Okay, so Padfoot first, then who?" James asked,  
  
"I wanna go last, is that okay?" Remus asked,  
  
"Yip, so who's next, me or Wormtail?" James asked,  
  
"You go first Prongs, I don't mind" Peter said, he sounded a bit upset though,  
  
"No, don't be stupid mate, you go first, then I'll go after you, after all, I wanna get the info from you lot first! Now, everyone has to come back into the hall, or show some form of communication to tell us its all okay" James told them, they all nodded.  
  
"So, we ready?" Sirius asked, looking at himself in the mirror,  
  
"As ready as I'll ever be" Remus said, they all had one last laugh, before moving into the common room. The girls weren't down yet, so they sat on the chairs. Quite a few guys were standing or sitting downstairs, all in different states of robes, all waiting for what looked like, the girls,  
  
"Hey" James heard someone say behind them, the Marauders turned to face the voice,  
  
"Frank!" Sirius said,  
  
"Where ya been mate, haven't seen you in a while" Remus said to Frank,  
  
"Ah, been around, doubt you lot to look at where I am, especially when you got those hot girls with you all the time. I don't know how you lot do it, I really don't!" Frank exclaimed,  
  
"Animal magnetism" Sirius said, and they all laughed, "Nah, I don't mean it really, you cant call Laura an animal, you ever seen an animal look, that good?" Sirius asked. The Marauders and Frank all had a laugh before his date came downstairs, she happened to be, Nadine Simons.  
  
"And you think were the only ones who can do it?" James hissed into Franks ear as he left with Nadine, who looked stunning.  
  
"There they are" Remus said, as three gorgeous girls descended from the girls dormitories. All three of them seemed highly aware of the attention they were getting from the males down stairs, as they walked downstairs looking no less than beautiful.  
  
"Hey" All three of them said at the same time, they looked incredibly nervous,  
  
"You look, all of you, look fantastic," Sirius said to them all, they all blushed, deeply, especially Laura.  
  
"Oh, talking of looking fantastic, because she does, Penny said she'll be down in two seconds, she's fixing her shoes," Laura told Peter,  
  
"Yeah, she didn't like the colour, and is trying to find a shade that will suit her dress." Lilly said. The boys nodded, right here was where the most of the Veela showed up in them. James couldn't take his eyes of them, none of them,  
  
"Erm, do you want us to wait with you for Penny then?" James asked, still not able to take his eyes of Lilly,  
  
"Nah, its fine, you lot go ahead, I'll catch up later" Peter said. So James and Lilly, Sirius and Laura and Remus and Lou all walked down to the great hall.  
  
"So, whys the queue not moving?" Sirius asked, standing on his tiptoes to elevate his height even more. "Ah, the prefects haven't opened the doors yet" Sirius said,  
  
"Why are the prefects there?" Peter asked  
  
"To let us all in" James said, making it sound like the most obvious thing in the world,  
  
"Oh, look, were moving, lets go" Lilly said, grabbing James' hand and pulling him a few paces ahead, the other girls followed suit. The hall was decorated all over with some sort of cheering dust, because the minuet they walked in, a smile was soon plastered across their faces. The hall also had brightly coloured rainbows strewn across the ceiling, and clouds were at both ends of the rainbows.  
  
"Whoa, nice and summery" Sirius said.  
  
"Yeah, its nice though, really pretty" Lou said to them,  
  
"Ach, not a patch on you" Remus said to Lou, who blushed. It was only then that James noticed what the girls were wearing. Lilly had a beautiful black halter neck dress on, that split just below her thigh and continued to be split all the way down to her shoes, which were a lovely pair of black sparkly high heeled shoes. [URL= Lilly's dress, I don't like the girl who models it, hehe, but i like the dress, and i changed Lou had a pink sparkly dress on, that hung loosely to her figure, it was also a full length dress, and split at the knee, right down to her pink matching dress! Again, don't like the model, hehe, I'm so nasty! [/URL] James's glance then went to Laura, who had the most revealing dress, but she could pull it off well. It was a purple full-length gown that was straight but had a V-cut from her neck to her belly button. You could just see her silver heeled shoes from the bottom of the dress. The hall also had a new shimmering floor, scattered with flashing silver dust, Sirius was the first person to notice the food on the other side of the hall, "Oh, food" he said, making Laura laugh,  
  
"Didn't you eat dinner?" Lou asked,  
  
"You think he needs not to have eaten dinner, he's always hungry," Peter said,  
  
"Oh, yeah I guess" Lou said going red at her mistake. Remus noticed this and sent a set of daggers at Peter, who mumbled, "I didn't mean it like that" before dragging Penny off to one of the tables near the end of the hall. Before long Dumbledore was making his way on to the stage to make a speech, "I must first start by saying that you all look wonderful, it is great to see such beautiful wizards and witches pass through this school. Now secondly, I must say that I am very thankful for coming to this summer school, as it has helped me a lot, I have seen my friends, as have you, I have learnt more, as have you, well, I can hope. I hope to continue this idea next time, but I'm afraid the ministry wouldn't allow it. I can say now that they are not to keen that I let any of the pupils, other than the one young man supposed to stay, stay. So, in order to make this a summer to remember, you have tonight to enjoy yourself, and tomorrow, if you did not all know already, you will have the day of tomorrow, to do as you please. I was thinking of not letting you go to Hogsmeade tomorrow, but some of you may need to, so for tomorrow, is yours to choose what you do with. But please, please use the day sensibly." Dumbledore said before walking of the stage. Many of the pupils, including the girls and the Marauders, were shocked at his sudden ending, and what it meant. Thus making them jump at the sound of the music suddenly coming without warning.  
  
"Can I have this dance?" James asked Lilly, holding out his hand. Lilly blushed,  
  
"Of course, James" She said allowing herself to be lead towards the dance floor. Lou and Remus soon joined them, and a while later, after Sirius had had some food, Laura and Sirius also did. Peter and Penny didn't join them at all. Almost an hour had gone by without any of the Marauders noticing the time, but at ten to ten. "Sirius!" James hissed in his ear,  
  
"What?" Sirius replied,  
  
"Ten to ten" James informed him. Sirius' smile was enough to show James what he didn't say. James and Lilly soon went down to sit at one of the cute tables, each decorated with a vase with one rose in it. "Red, or white?" James asked Lilly,  
  
"There all red, James" Lilly said smiling, as though he was blind,  
  
"For you, I would change the colour of everything" James said with a wink, as he drew out his wand and charmed the rose from white to red every two seconds. "If you cant choose, you can have both colours, you deserve them. Or-"James swished his wand again, as the red rose became white and red. -"Would you prefer them both colours at the same time?" James asked her, sitting her down on her chair.  
  
"James, you really are a strange one" Lilly suddenly said,  
  
"Why?" He asked puzzled,  
  
"Because...well, you just are. I got you all worked out wrong. This has been the best summer of my life, and I owe it all to you" Lilly said to him. For the first time in a very long time, James Potter was blushing,  
  
"Don't be stupid, Lilly, don't be stupid" James told her. Out of the corner of James' eye, he could see Laura being lead out of the hall by Sirius, "Lill's?" James asked her, remembering that he had no idea what to ask for when he got to the 'room of requirement'  
  
"Uh huh?" She replied, looking at James with her bright green eyes that James almost got lost in,  
  
"What's your perfect date? I mean if you could have anything in the world for one night, what would it be?"  
  
"Oh, that's simple, me Lou and Laura have had this planned since we were little girls, and its always been the same. Were all different though, but hey, whatever turns you on. I would love, absolutely love to start of by a little walk, through a garden thing, and then end up under a tree by the lake. That's why I spend so much time out at that frigging lake." Lilly told him. James was concentrating very hard on what Lilly was saying to remember it all, "The there would be a little picnic set out, and a blanket, and it would be all sunny, and perfect weather, and the birds and everything like that. We would just sit, eat, cuddle, kiss and chat, and then stars would start to appear and we would just spend the time out there, doing nothing, then walk back through the garden, and, ah..." Lilly trailed off with a dreamy look on her face. James smiled,  
  
"And who may I ask, would be accompanying you?" He asked, hoping to God it was him, and not someone else.  
  
"If you asked me this a few months ago, it wouldn't have been you, but now, now my perspective of you has changed, so I'm hoping, its you" Lilly said, now making it her turn to blush. James smiled at her answer,  
  
"Well I really hope that wish for you comes true," James said, "Sooner than you think," he continued, but he said it quietly that time, so Lilly didn't hear him. Lilly and James spent a little bit longer talking, and then went to dance again. James noticed that Sirius and Laura suddenly re-appeared, with wide grins on there face. "Where'd you get to?" Lilly asked Laura as her and Sirius got closer to their table.  
  
"Oh, we went out for a bit, of, erm, fresh air" Laura said, her face reddening.  
  
"Gosh I need to teach you to lie" Lou suddenly said from behind Lilly and James. Laura's face reddened even more at Lou's comment, but she said nothing.  
  
"Well, would you mind if we had a little chat?" Lou asked with a commercial smile on her face,  
  
"Not at all" James and Sirius said together. Lou, Laura and Lilly walked away and Remus and Sirius sat down opposite James, "Did it work? What happened?" James asked straight away,  
  
"Yeah it worked. Not a lot happened, just the usual. She was well delighted though, couldn't keep her hands off me. I swear." Sirius bragged. The boys all had a good chat about what happened with Sirius and Laura, James slightly failing to believe certain parts of it. His mind was altered though when the shriek of laughter from Lou was in the air a few tables away. Lou was hurriedly shut up by Lilly who put a hand to her mouth. James was shocked to see that she too was giggling, and Laura, was redder than a tomato. Soon the girls came back to the tables, and they all started dancing again, James was constantly looking at his watch, or the door to see if Peter would return any sooner. James had already scanned the room, looking for him, making sure he had actually gone, and he had. James watch now said eleven forty eight. [I] It was getting sooner [/I] James though to him self. Lilly has enquired a few times as to why he kept checking his watch, and he just replied, "Wait and see Lilly, wait and see." Finally James saw Peter emerge into the room again, with Penny, who had a pink tinge visible to her cheeks. Peter hurried over to where James and the rest of them were. "Thank you!" He mouthed immediately to James, who just smiled.  
  
"Hey Lill's, come for a walk" James said in his usual charismatic way, leading Lilly away, Laura and Lou were both giggling, and both knew what was happening by the looks of things.  
  
The music started to fade away, as both of them walked away from the great hall. "So where are we going?" Lilly asked, cuddling into James arm even more, as though she knew what was happening.  
  
"You'll see" James replied quietly, kissing the top of Lilly's resting head. Lilly smiled sweetly up at James. James and Lilly arrived at the statue that James so familiarly encountered only a while ago. "Close your eyes, Lilly" James told her, she did as she was told, but let out a little giggle at the same time. James thought very hard, [I] I want this room to become what Lilly described to me [/I] James thought, three times as he walked from the statue to the picture frame. Suddenly the door appeared, and James removed his hands from Lilly's eyes, allowing her to enter the room. For the first time ever James didn't see a room, he saw a long pathway, a gorgeous dirt pathway, enclosed by trees that had chattering birds in them. James couldn't see to the end of the path, but he knew there must be one. James looked at Lilly, to see her reaction, she was smiling, grinning even, her head was moving all around, "James, how did-" Lilly started, but she didn't finish, because James held his hand across her mouth,  
  
"Ask me no questions, I will tell you no lies," he said, kissing her on the lips. "Shall we?" James asked, indicating to the pathway, and holding out his hand. Lilly took his hand, and gently caressed it, "I don't know how you did this James, but thank you," She said sweetly. James yet again smiled to himself. They both walked down the little lane in silence for a while, but then they struck up a conversation, and before long, James saw the end of the lane, and by the reaction of Lilly, so did she. "Oh, my goodness, James I love this, how- oh I don't care, thank you, thank you." Was what Lilly was saying.  
  
"Its fine Lilly, anything to make you happy" James said to her. They sat down on the chequered blanket, and opened the picnic basket. "You hungry?" James asked, "There's food" he said making it seem like Lilly was stupid. Lilly just laughed though,  
  
"Nah, I'm fine for now, thanks," She said back to James. James sat himself underneath the tress, and Lilly rested her head on his chest. "This is so perfect" Lilly said again to him. James nodded, and pulled Lilly's chin up to eye level with his, and they lay pressed up against the tress kissing for what seemed like ages to James, although he was enjoying every second of it. With every short second that went by, the kiss seemed to be heating its self up slightly, and although he loved it, he wasn't to sure if Lilly was, so he pulled away. "What's wrong?" Lilly asked shocked,  
  
"Nothing, I just guessed you didn't appreciate that," James said, going red slightly.  
  
"No! I did, I mean, well, I didn't hate it" Lilly said, suddenly changing her tone slightly. James smiled at her slightly and only said, "Well then..." Before going into kiss her again, with the same intensity as when he left off. A few minuets later, James and Lilly both pulled away from there kiss, that had lead to a bit more, and Lilly, was blushing, "I'm sorry, I should have, it was just the, the..." she said,  
  
"Its fine, really, it wasn't anything, big, its cool" James said, reassuring her, slightly. James a Lilly sat in silence for a few minuets, a comfortable silence, before James started to take Lilly's shoes off, and toss them aside. "Erm, James, what are you doing?" Lilly asked him, with a smile on her face,  
  
"You'll see," James replied. James then started to take his own shoes off, and he placed them next to Lilly's, "C'mon, water will be nice" James told Lilly, she just laughed at him,  
  
"James, I have a dress on!" Lilly informed him,  
  
"Well, we could change that you know" James said cheekily, Lilly blushed deep crimson, but tried to keep her cool,  
  
"I don't think so James, I don't think so"  
  
"Ach you can always try" James told her. James though, wouldn't take Lilly's no as an answer, and proceeded to pick her up and dump her in the water,  
  
"James!" She screamed, "This is a really expensive dress" Lilly exclaimed, half laughing, half not. James finally got Lilly to calm down, and they paddled around in the water a bit, before James half jumped on Lilly, in an attempt to kiss her. James succeeded, until he ruined his chances by trying to remove a strap of Lilly's dress, and he only received a cold glare, "Okay, I'm sorry, I'm pushing my luck" he said. Lilly just nodded, eyebrows raised as well. "C'mon, lets get dry," James said, "I mean, like a charm, to make us dry, over there" He said, only noticing what he said sounded slightly wrong to Lilly. James and Lilly where back on ground, and dry in no time at all, just in time for James's watch to beep, indicating five to twelve. "We have to get back" James told Lilly, who sight and looked disappointed.  
  
On the way back, Lilly and James were in the same position as they were almost an hour ago, "James, there's something I need to tell you" Lilly suddenly said, not moving herself at all,  
  
"What?" James asked, imagining the worst,  
  
"I have to tell you, and I don't want you to be freaked out at me or anything..." Lilly said, trailing off again. Thoughts that Lilly was about to tell him something like she was a man, or that she was after something, or that she was in love with Peter all rushed into James head, as he imagined the worst, "...I'm in love with you, James" Lilly finally said. James was dumbfounded, [I] In love with me? Finally! [/I] James though,  
  
"Why would I be mad or freaked out about that?" James asked her,  
  
"Well, I didn't want to scare you or freaking you out by saying that I loved you, especially, now that, well I dunno" Lilly said, looking down at her feet,  
  
"Believe me Lill's you shouldn't care about that, especially when you know...that I love you as well," James told her. James brought her head up to eye level, and looked into her beautiful emerald green eyes, "I really do love you Lilly, I really do" James confirmed again. "I have for ages, and I always will" James told her. Unless it was a trick of the eye, or James was seeing things, he could have sworn he saw a tear trickle down her cheek, but he looked harder, and saw nothing.  
  
Lilly and James excited the room, and stopped for another kiss, "You know, its almost a shame we couldn't have spent longer in that room, I was quite warming up to it, as well as you, of course" Lilly said slyly, pulling James back into the Great Hall. James could have kicked himself, [I] why didn't we spend more time in there. I could have known Lilly Evans in a whole new way! [/I] James thought madly to himself. James and Lilly wormed there way through the crowds of people, and back to Sirius, Laura, Lou and Remus, "Hey" Lilly said brightly. The girls all smiled at Lilly, and the boys grinned at James.  
  
"C'mon, Lou" Remus said, leading Lou away,  
  
"Have fun" Lilly and Laura shouted after her.  
  
"I will" Lou mouthed back to Lilly and Laura, sending them into fits of giggles. Lilly and Laura went to a separate table from the boys, so to talk about what happened, although James and Sirius were talking about the exact same things,  
  
"So, what happened?" Sirius asked eagerly,  
  
"Not a lot, bit of kissing, bit more, not a lot though," James said casually, "What's been happening out here?" James asked Sirius.  
  
"Not a lot" Sirius replied impatiently, "Now tell me, properly" Sirius demanded,  
  
"Oh fine" James said, giving in and telling Sirius most of the events of the night.  
  
By one o'clock Remus was back, and they were all in little groups again, telling the details of the night. Although Remus refused to play the old, 'kiss and tell game.' "Your no fun!" Declared Sirius in a huffy, baby voice. With only an hour left, the songs continued to get slower and slower, and the dances and couples, more intimate. "I meant it you know?" James said to Lilly, halfway through a song. He had his arms round her waist, and hers round his neck, he was looking deeply into her eyes again, as he was telling her this,  
  
"Meant what?" Lilly asked quietly,  
  
"When I said I loved you, I meant it" James told her, Lilly smiled at him,  
  
"So did I, so did I" Lilly replied resting her red head on James shoulder. James didn't know what was so special about Lilly, he just knew they had a bond, and no matter what, he wouldn't break that, no matter what.  
  
Earlier that morning, the Marauders and the girls all trooped up the stairs to the Gryffindor common room, sore feet, but big grins on there faces. All four of them said goodnight to their girlfriends at different parts of the common room, each person having a different was of saying goodbye. Peter merely kissed Penny on the lips, before dashing up to the dormitory, whist Sirius, was kissing Laura's neck, only occasionally going back to her face, they also happened to be in an extremely tight embrace. Remus and Lou were just making out, whist Lilly and James, were yet again all over each other. Remus, Sirius and James all happened to 'finish' and go upstairs at the same time. "God, that was a good night" Remus said tiredly to the others.  
  
"Hell yeah" James and Sirius said simultaneously. They all got ready for bed and slept well, not waking up until one o'clock in the afternoon.  
  
"Today's the last day" Remus was telling them all at breakfast  
  
"Yeah, so it is" Sirius said, sadly  
  
"Where are the girls?" Peter asked abruptly  
  
"By the lake, gossiping" Remus replied,  
  
"About last night, no doubt" Sirius said,  
  
"Yeah, after all, there is a lot to cover, eh?" James said hinting at his friends. They all laughed at James comment,  
  
"Erm, I'm going to go find Penny" Peter said all of a sudden  
  
"Okay, Wormtail, see you in a bit" James said, Peter waved, and then quickly rushed out of the dinning hall.  
  
"There something up with him, he seems to be doing a lot of disappearing, he never actually is with Penny, I mean look, there she is over there" Remus pointed out.  
  
"So she is," Sirius said,  
  
"Oh well, I'm sure he'll tell us what it is soon enough" James said happily spreading marmalade onto his toast. Remus didn't look too convinced, and continued to look warily around the room.  
  
Later on that day, everyone was back in the common room, and they were all laughing and joking, until Peter said, yet again unexpectedly, "I'm going to find Penny"  
  
"She's up in the dormitory, want me to get her for you?" Laura shouted after him  
  
"No, I told her I'd meet her downstairs," Peter said not turning round.  
  
"Right, I'm after him, I wanna know what he's up too, I'll see you lot later," James said, as he kissed Lilly bye.  
  
James summoned his invisibility coat and walked out of the common room invisibly. "Point me" James said, placing his wand on the palm of his hand. The wand pointed toward the school grounds, so he followed the directions of the wand, and sure enough, he saw a waddling Peter going out towards what looked like Hagrid's hut. James continued to follow him. James saw he was leading himself into the forbidden forest. If James was going to be one hundred percent truthful, he really didn't want to know where Peter was going. He convinced himself that it was Peter's business and he should stay out of it. On the way back, James saw approaching towards him was Lou, although she couldn't see him, he automatically forgot, and said, "Hey, where you off to?" This of course made Lou jump out of her skin,  
  
"James!" She hissed, "Where the hell are you?" Lou asked him. James removed his cloak, and revealed himself.  
  
"So what you doing out here?" He asked her again,  
  
"I'm off to find that Voldermort guy," Lou said, edgily,  
  
"Why?" James asked,  
  
"Because I found out a lot more about him, I found out where he is, what he's doing, and why he's doing it" Lou explained,  
  
"Wicked, I'm coming with you" James declared,  
  
"Bad idea, it could be dangerous" Lou warned him,  
  
"Ah, then a lovely young lady like you would need some help," James said professionally, making Lou blush slightly,  
  
"I need no help of yours" Lou replied slightly coldly, "Although, I could use the company," She added in, after seeing James's disappointed face. James cheerfully agreed, and they continued towards where James had last seen Peter go. "So what's he doing, and whys he doing it?" James asked Lou,  
  
"He's starting of a muggle hater group, he's killing any one who crosses his path, who happens to be muggle or half blood, or anything other than at least pureblood..." Lou trailed off.  
  
"But, why?" James asked quite shocked, before Lou could answer though, there was a sudden movement in the bushes to one side. Lou instinctively grabbed hold of James. "Sorry," She whispered,  
  
"Its fine" James mouthed. Lou placed her grip back onto her wand, and drew it above her head.  
  
"Louise Rose Stevenson." A cold voice said from where they had heard the sound. James whipped around and saw a tall, thin dark haired man, towering over the two of them. Lou merely smiled,  
  
"Yes?" She asked, "Oh sorry, yes, Tom Marvolo Riddle!" Lou said spitefully,  
  
"Ah, impressive, for a muggle born" The clocked man said,  
  
"You know nothing. I came here thinking I would face someone with worthwhile intelligence, instead, I am faced with you." Lou said boldly, James was astounded with what she was saying. He had just realised that the man in the cloak was that, Voldermort guy, the one who killed muggle borns and half borns alike.  
  
"You think I am not intelligent, ah, what a shame, and here was me thinking I was, how silly of me" Voldermort said to Lou.  
  
"If you had any ounce of intelligence you would not have tried to set up a base on the grounds of Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry. You would also be able to tell apart a muggle born, from a pure blood" Lou reeled off. His time, as you could see in Voldermort's eyes, she had gone to far, she had said to much to insult him, and as James's prediction was right, he suddenly drew out his wand and shouted into the setting sky, 'Crucio.' Lou's screams suddenly filled the sky, and she fell to the ground in pain. James didn't know what to do, he picked her up, but she just fell motionless to the ground.  
  
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" James shouted at Voldermort.  
  
"Stay out of this Potter, stay out of business you know nothing about," Voldermort said, aiming his wand at James's chest. James then drew out his own wand, but before he could say any spell, there was a rushing of feet behind him, and four people appeared behind him. Those four people were Lilly, Laura, Remus and Sirius. Lilly and Laura instantly went to help Lou, who had he eyes still closed, and was muttering to herself.  
  
"She has a very week mind, only the weakest of minds would consider that pain, tell me Potter, do you think that this is painful" Voldermort suddenly said raising his wand and saying that dreadful word again. James suddenly felt his whole body seize up. He heard the screaming of Lilly in the background, as he felt his whole body burning. His body was on fire, he tried to move, to put it out, but he couldn't, all he heard was Lilly screams and the voices of people, were getting fainter and fainter. His body started cooling down, and the screaming got louder and louder. Suddenly, the feeling of being under someone's power was gone, as James stumbled backwards.  
  
"You b!" Sirius said loudly,  
  
"Watch it black, I have your brother behind me, he wouldn't want to pick up language like that now would he" Voldermort said, flicking his wand and releasing rope that tied all six of them together.  
  
"Where's my brother?" Sirius demanded,  
  
"Black!" Voldermort shouted, "Come here." A scrawny young boy that looked the age of seventeen walked towards Voldermort, he too was dressed in a black cloak, with a mask covering his face. "Show your dear brother who you really are" Voldermort demanded, the young boy lifted off his mask, and kneeled to Voldermort, kissing the hem of his robes,  
  
"You worthless piece of scum!" Sirius stated. "No wonder mother never liked you, you kneel to others, she will not be happy at that, now ill she?" Sirius asked rhetorically. Sirius' brother made no movement, nor sound, it seemed he only answered to Voldermort.  
  
"Ah, family affairs, how I miss them" Voldermort stated, letting out a false sigh.  
  
"If you hadn't killed them, like the monster you are, then you could still have them!" Lou shouted with all the might she had in her voice. Lilly and Laura tried to quieten her, but it was too late, the harm had been said.  
  
"You are an outspoken little brat aren't you, Stevenson" Voldermort said, swishing his wand and making the ropes untie and Lou float in the air to meet him, eye to eye.  
  
"I am an outspoken, little, pure blooded brat," Lou said weakly,  
  
"That indeed you are!" Voldermort agreed. With a swoosh of his wand. Lou was suddenly turned facing the other five, still tied up. "You will now all find out what happens when you speak back at Lord Voldermort, you will die, you will die painfully, and you will kill yourself." Voldermort said simply. Voldermort muttered some words under his breath, and conjured a dagger out of nowhere. The dagger fell right into Lou's hand. Lou was placed back on the ground with a thud. Suddenly, for no reason other than the words Voldermort had said beforehand, Lou pulled the dagger towards her, and started slashing at her arm. Lilly and Laura screamed at the sight. Remus begged her to stop and Sirius and James made fierce movements to try and get their wands to stop the spell Voldermort had put on Lou.  
  
"Isn't it funny, watching someone kill them self is so much better than killing them yourself, just a note for you al when you come to your senses and join me." Voldermort said, observing Lou, who was screaming in pain, and trying with all her might, what looked to be dragging the dagger away from her. "But then again, after a while, it does get a bit boring" Voldermort said, he swished his wand again, and the dagger in Lou's hand fell to the floor, as did she. Remus made a quick movement to try and get to her. James tried and tried, but he couldn't move, all he could do was look at Lou. She was lying on the dirty ground, panting, and had blood pouring out of her arms, her eyes were tight shut, and she was muttering something. Suddenly she did something both very stupid and very noble. "I will make a deal with you," Lou said, rolling over, facing Voldermort, but yet not standing on her feet. "You torture me, as much as your jolly well like, and you don't harm a hair or any part of there bodies, and let them go" Lou said, gesturing at James and the girls.  
  
"What good will that do for me? Killing only one?" Voldermort asked her, grinning crazily.  
  
"What good will it do? Your joking" Lou said weekly "It will do you no good whatsoever killing me, James, Lilly, Laura, Remus, Sirius or even Peter for Christ sakes. Were no one special, we like to think we all are, but were not. Were not even muggle born, none of us, we are all pure bloods! None of us have muggle blood in us, and none of us are anything, or will be anything special!" Lou exclaimed, "So you get your one little killing, me. And you let them go, without hurting any of them!" Lou demanded. James was routed even more to the spot than he already was. James had no idea why in the world Lou was doing this and he started to blame himself. [I] I should have dragged her back to the common room. I shouldn't have let her come here. Lilly's going to be mad at me, so is Remus, its all my fault [/I] James was thinking. By the time James was out of his thoughts, Voldermort had condescended to only killing one. "No!" Screamed all five of the remaining teenagers tied up.  
  
"Everyone dies. Some people, sooner than people. It always happens, something's are worth dying for, like your friends. I couldn't have better friends than all of you, so this is the way I chose to die. Believe me, we will meet again, I know we will" Lou said, this little speech made Laura and Lilly burst in to tears. James couldn't even figure out what they were saying, he managed to pick up, "you...cant...we love you...don't...we cant...not without you...please don't and I love you" off of both Laura and Lilly. Remus was also struggling, "Please, Lou, don't! Please" He pleaded, "We love you, you can't do this!" Remus continued, Lou cut him short though,  
  
"You don't understand do you? If I don't die, all of us will!"  
  
"Then we will all die together," Sirius said loudly,  
  
"No, save your death for some other time." Lou said, "You will all chose to die at some point, and if you don't, there will be someone you will die for. You five, especially Laura and Lilly, you lot are the ones I have chosen to die for, and I want to keep it that way" Lou said,  
  
"How touching" Voldermort said to them all, "How utterly sweet, now can we continue" He asked menacingly, Lou nodded, "No!" Came a sudden lengthening scream from both the girls, as they dissolved into sobs again. It was two late, Voldermort had already cried into the now night sky: Avada Kadavra. Lou's body, that was propped up, by the usage of her un-bloody arm, was now slumped on the ground, and her eyes shut, not in fear, or by choice, but by death. By a painful, bloody and tortured death. Lilly and Laura hid their faces from her body, and James and Sirius comforted them.  
  
"Let us go!" Remus suddenly said, trying, but failing to hold back the tears,  
  
"Ah yes, Miss Stevenson's last wish" Voldermort said deviously,  
  
"Let us go!" Remus repeated. Voldermort this time did, the ropes around all of them were suddenly loosened, and they all managed to stand on there won to feet. Lilly and Laura with the help of Sirius and James.  
  
"We will meet again I am sure, but until then, I bid you farewell" Voldermort said before hiding his head in his cloak again,  
  
"Wait!" Lilly suddenly said, "Your that b that killed my sister" Lilly said again. A smile crept across Voldermort's pale face, "You killed her, four years ago, you stole he wand" Lilly said again, even more tears welling up in her eyes.  
  
"You never forget a face, do you, Evans?" Voldermort said, he went to swish his cloak and disappear, but Lilly stopped him again,  
  
"You were right, Voldermort, our paths will cross again, and when they do. I will kill you! I will make sure every inch of my body survives until I find you, and I, will, kill you" Lilly said, James was struggling to hold Lilly still and away from Voldermort, he was also trying to shut her up, but it didn't work. Voldermort only laughed and disappeared.  
  
Remus struggled to move towards Lou, but he knew he had to bring her body up to the castle. He cried at the loss of the only girl he had only loved, and James felt his sorrow as he carried his dead girlfriend back up to the castle. ((Yes I know you cant do that on Hogwarts grounds, but since this is before Harry, I thought the rules could have been changed slightly!! hehe))  
  
The five of them, heads all hanging, saying nothing all walked back towards the castle. The group was a sorry sight, Remus carrying his dead girlfriends body, Lilly practically in James arms and Laura in the same but with Sirius. None of them said a word at all. Argus Filtch greeted them at the door, the last person they ever wanted to see. "Well, what a sorry- my God what has happened to her" He said,  
  
"We need to see Dumbledore" Sirius said in a dull monotone,  
  
"Of course, of course" Filtch said. Filtch lead them to where James knew the staircase to Dumbledore's office was, "Berti Botts" Filtch said, and suddenly, the stature of a gargoyle moved, and allowed them entrance into the elevating staircase. "Headmaster, headmaster. There is an emergency. Black and Potter have done something to Miss Stevenson. To upset to argue, James said nothing, only continued to walk past Dumbledore, and sit Lilly on a chair. Sirius did the same, whilst Remus laid Lou on the floor. Remus looked at his hands and body, he was covered in blood, from where Lou had attacked herself,  
  
"Merlin. What happened here?" Dumbledore asked them. Dumbledore checked Lou's dead body to see if it showed any signs of life, he shock his head, indicating that it didn't. The pictures that were all sleeping, suddenly came awake, and there were tons of stifled cry's and, "Close your eyes" emitting from the paintings.  
  
"Professor, it wasn't us," James said,  
  
"Of course it wasn't. Hold on" Dumbledore told them. Dumbledore swished his wand and conjured five smoking goblets of potion. At the movement of the wand, both Laura and Lilly screamed and fell backwards.  
  
"What's wrong, miss Evans, miss Hammond?" Dumbledore asked them.  
  
"Sir, can I take them to the hospital wing, James was there from the start, he knows what happened. Me and Remus only know part of the story" Sirius said,  
  
"Yes, yes of course. Tell Madam Pomfry ((I'm sorry, I didn't remember that they had the same matron back then as they do in HP times, sorry!!)) that I sent you, and that I require you to take a sleeping draught. Mr Lupin, you go as well" Dumbledore told them,  
  
"I want to stay with Lou" Remus said, gripping Lou's mangled hand.  
  
"Mr Lupin, I believe that is not a good idea. Gets some rest and then I shall see what we can do" Dumbledore said, driving all four of them out of the door,  
  
"But...Lou!" Remus still said,  
  
"Rest Mr Lupin, rest!"  
  
Dumbledore said very sternly, with one last look at Lou, Remus left the room. When the door was shut, James was handed the potion, and he took it. Although he still felt bad, he did feel slightly better, although, the feeling of terror in his stomach, caused by the death of Lou's, was still there. James looked at Lou's dead, blue body, lying only a meter away from him. "Yes, Mr Potter, a great way to start, what happened? Before you start, I know this will not be easy for you. And I now respect you a lot more than you would think, because you are telling me this now, and not later. Now please, tell me what happened" Dumbledore said. For a while, James just sat and said nothing, not knowing where to start, he was trying to think of ways to cover the rules he broke, but none were available. James then just reeled off the story, right from the beginning, when Lou had started to read bout a terrible killer on the loose, about how he had never been captured, about how he killed muggle borns, about how he killed his own family. How he had his own group of people, he described their looks, and then he went no to the run through. From Peter, to the death of Lou, he spoke non-stop, and when he finally did. He buried his head in his hands and let out a cry. Dumbledore put his hand on James shoulder, and told him, "You are a brave man, Mr Potter. Just like Miss Stevenson was a brave woman." James hated hearing that, the 'was' he hated it. James walked over to Lou's body,  
  
"She wouldn't be dead if it wasn't for me!" James said to Dumbledore,  
  
"Now. James, I'm sure that's not true" Dumbledore said to James,  
  
"Yeah, it is. I should have been a proper friend, when she was out there, I should have taken her back to the common room, and ignored where peter was off to, it would have been none of my business anyways." James continued,  
  
"You seem to blame yourself when you shouldn't. James, I had known Lou a very long time, longer than you, and almost as long as Lilly and Laura, she was very strong willed. If she wanted something, nothing in this entire earth, and a whole load other places would get in her way to stop it. That being the reason she was so good at her subject, her acting, and how she got on so well with you lot." Dumbledore reeled off,  
  
"How did you know her that amount of time?" James asked,  
  
"Her father." Dumbledore said simply  
  
"What about him?" James asked, suddenly curious,  
  
"He wasn't very, nice, to Lou, so I went and kept an eye on her every once in a while, made sure she was okay, until she got to Hogwarts" Dumbledore said to James, who nodded. James supposed that was why she came to this summer school, to get away fro her dad, [I] well she certainly got away from him, away from him for good [/I]  
  
"Sir, what do you think she'll do, come back as a ghost, or go through?" James asked, half hoping she would stay as a ghost,  
  
"Ah, James, I feel she will not stay here as a ghost, Lou wouldn't want to annoy anyone here, ach, always trying to please everyone" Dumbledore said, a single tear slid down his face.  
  
"Now, Mr Potter, I think you too should join your friends in the hospital wing. I have arrangements to make for Miss Stevenson." Dumbledore said.  
  
"Thank you sir" James said before closing the door behind him. He couldn't believe on of his friends, was dead! And he was partly to blame. James got to the Hospital wing, and was fussed over by Madam Pomfry, who gave him a sleeping potion, and a hug.  
  
James awoke to the sound of muffled crying, looking up, he remembered exactly what happened last night, and he thought correctly that it would be Lilly and Laura crying. To make matters worse, today was the day everyone was coming back to school. All five of the gang stayed very close together and Peter was disowned from the gang, on behalf of they didn't want to explain everything to Peter. They also weren't to forgiving because Peter wouldn't tell them where he was last night. That night at dinner, the sorting had already been done but privately, because Dumbledore had an announcement to make to the whole school, the whole school that was back already. Hardly anyone knew about Lou's death, and the few that did were in too much a state of grief to be blabbing it to anyone. The Great Hall had been decorated in black satin, to grieve Lou's death. "Tonight, we eat and drink to a great pupil, friend, girl who's bravery has astonished even, me. I am talking about Louise Stevenson, who if she were here tonight, would be severely annoyed because I called her by her real name, but since she is not, I will have to continue. Lou Stevenson, as she was known to many of you was a fantastic, brave smart and charismatic pupil, who I enjoyed teaching, all these year. Unfortunately, I cannot have the pleasure of teaching her again, because last night, she was murdered by a man who's name we will grow to fear, a man who's name some already fear, Voldermort. Lou told me years ago, back in her second year, that she thought she didn't belong in Gryffindor, that she thought she wasn't brave enough, but last night, she showed some bravery I have never seen Gryffindor's before her show. Last night Lou Stevenson died for a cause, she died to save her friends, she died to save others, and I now ask of you to each stand and raise your glasses to Lou Stevenson, one of Gryffindor's Bravest." Dumbledore said, raising his glass. There was a scraping of feet, as mostly everyone in the hall stood to their feet to raise their glass. James looked across the table at Lilly, and at Laura. The both had tears streaming down their faces, and their eyes were blood shot and the light of the candels illuminated their extremely pale skin. Dumbledore said a few more words, before the chatter started, and people asked questions, Laura was already upset enough, so Sirius charmed a glass wall around the five of them, blocking out Peter as well. "Thanks" Laura said weakly,  
  
"No problem" Sirius said with a tiny smile.  
  
"So much for the best summer ever," Lilly said to them all as they walked up to Gryffindor tower.  
  
"Yeah, the worst is more like it," Sirius said  
  
"James, can I have a word?" Lilly asked him, stopping,  
  
"Course you can," James said smiling  
  
"I know, your probably going to hate me, but I cant do this, I cant lose Lou and still go out with you, I'm sorry, I just cant, please don't be mad at me. I just can't be with you anymore. I meant what I said when I said I loved you, and I do want to be with you, but right now, I cant, and I'm sorry, Laura's breaking up with Sirius, but this isn't why I'm doing this. I just need to get my life back in order, I need to get over the loss of Lou, and, I know you wouldn't, but I just feel you would be annoyed at me because I would take so long. Please understand, and remember that I love you" Lilly reeled of to James. James went to retort, but he changed his mind,  
  
"Okay, I understand, and remember, I love you. I always have, and I always will, we'll just see what the future holds" James said, pulling Lilly into the last hug he would give her for a long, long time...  
  
Fin 


	17. Epilogue

Epilogue:- James and Lilly stopped speaking from then on. James, Sirius and Remus became closer friends, because of what happened, but Peter, he was pushed aside from the group. James felt that since he hadn't lost anyone, he didn't understand what they were feeling. It turned out, so James found out, that Peter and Penny actually broke up on the night of the dance, and that he never really was going to find Penny. Laura and Sirius tried to get back together, in there sixth year, but it just didn't work. Laura found out that if they ever tried to reminisce, or try to kiss, it always reminded her of when they were at the summer school, and that reminded her of the death of Lou. Laura and Sirius did remain friends, and they both helped each other out when they needed help with the opposite sex. Remus never really did get over Lou, Sirius and James suggested he tried going out with someone else, but after about a week, the girl would get bored or upset with being compared to Lou. Right now however, Remus was with a great girl, who had transferred from an American school, her name was Cass, and she had also lost her boyfriend through a death, so she understood when Remus would go on about Lou. In James seventh year, Lilly was made head girl, and James was made head boy, they had to share a lot of spare time together and so the old bonds were re-attached, and well you know what happens from then on... 


	18. My Thank You

Heya guys. Look I'm really sorry about my f/f, its my first one, and I didn't wanna read the reviews, so I didn't. So I also didn't take your advise, and I should have, and I'm sorry that I didn't, coz I realise now that my f/f would have been better if I did. I'm sorry for the people who didn't like it, and I'm extremely thankful for the people who read it, thank you. Its over now, hehe, as you can see, hehe, and I'm sorry if it seemed short, but I hope for those that stuck around, you liked it. Thanks for reading Love and Hugz  
  
Lou 


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